Fresh carrots out of the garden taste divine, which is reason enough to grow them. But if you are looking for more reasons to grow carrots, let us tell you about the ground-breaking paper (mind the long title) that had us looking at carrots in a totally new way. The title of the paper is, “Critical review on the immunomodulatory activities of carrot’s β-carotene and other bioactive compounds”. In this paper, the authors make the argument that carrots are a ‘functional food’ with nutraceutical effects (e.g. pharmaceutical effects).

We know it’s a long read, but the following quote outlines their argument (or just read the sentences in bold or skip to our summary at the end of the paragraph):

Carrots (Daucus carota L.) are vegetables proven to have nutraceutical effects and are beneficial for health due to their natural bioactive substances. One of the potential effects of carrots is to maintain optimum health status by regulating immune response. This literature review summarized the proposed immunomodulatory mechanisms of the antioxidant properties of carrot’s β-carotene and other bioactive compounds such as phenolic acid, flavonoid, polyacetylene and ascorbic acid via the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and overall (innate and adaptive) immune response modulation. Overall, carrot’s bioactive compounds regulated pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, reduced oxidative stress by decreasing the reactive oxygen species accumulation and improving antioxidant capacity and the expression of genes in order to prevent more damaging oxidative destruction. Carrots also modulated the immune components by regulating leukocytes, antigens, immunoglobulins, and histamine levels. Thus, the immunomodulatory activity makes carrots a functional food source that has the potential to prevent and treat various diseases.

In other words, carrots are like medicine for your body. In particular, they are immunomodulators, which means carrots help regulate the body’s immune system. And because carrots are a food we can eat on a daily/regular basis, they can make a meaningful contribution of bioactive compounds to our diet.

The reason for all of these benefits? So many phytonutrients. The main ones (data from the paper mentioned above by Anjani et al 2022):

The main vitamins identified in carrots are Vitamin A (derived from β-carotene);
Vitamin E derived from α-tocopherol and critical for cell signaling, gene expression, and cell membrane stability in the human body;
Carrots are rich in Vitamin B derivatives (e.g. thiamine, riboflavin) which are important for cell growth and brain function;
Carrots are a rich source of ascorbic acid (also known as Vitamin C);
“The carotenoid content is estimated to range from 469 to 605 ug/100 g in yellow and purple carrots, while it is 10 times higher in orange carrots. Whereas 170 mg/kg of β-carotene was found in dark orange carrots, only 3.2 mg/kg is estimated in purple carrots. In general, orange carrots mainly contain x- and β carotene; yellow ones contain lutein, while red ones contain lycopene.”

The humble carrot has a lot to offer!

Plant Characteristics: Scarlet Nantes is a workhorse carrot. Its origins trace back to France in the 1850s. Beautiful deep orange carrots ranging in size from 3”- 7”. Sweet and crunchy, they taste so much better than supermarket carrots.

How to Plant: Direct sow in early spring, even before the last frost date. The small seeds need to be lightly covered with soil and then kept moist until they come up. It helps to put a light fleece covering over the seeds which helps keep the moisture in or even a piece of wood. Peek under the cover every couple of days to see if any carrot tops are popping up and then remove the covering. The seeds are very small, so it can be hard not to overseed. If you do have a lot of carrot tops coming up, no worries, just wait until carrots are about 2”- 4” tall and then thin the carrots to about 2” between seedlings.

How to Harvest: Scarlet Nantes can be picked early for baby carrots, or left for the whole season, even after a frost.