PlantFiles: Carrot
Daucus carota 'Purple Haze'

From your friends at Botanical Interests: A purple carrot? You might be surprised to know that many colors of carrots have been grown throughout history. Medieval Asian and European cultures, (and maybe even Egyptians) grew purple carrots. It was 17th century Dutch patriots that popularized the orange-colored carrots we are familiar with today. Purple Haze is a gorgeous, unique carrot with purple skin on the outside and orange on the inside. A sweet Imperator type, it grows 8”-12” long conical roots and has strong 18” tops. It is high in antioxidants (especially anthocyanin) and vitamins (especially Vitamin A). It is quite the novelty for gourmet meals and a treat for kids! Though it has been reported that people who eat large quantities of carrots may take on some of orange color in their skin, we haven’t heard any reports of purple carrots turning people purple! Although carrots “prefer cool soils to begin life and warm soils to finish it”, you can grow both a spring and fall crop. Carrots will germinate in soils as cool as 45 degrees, and in the fall they can still be dug from the garden and eaten until the ground freezes.

I love these carrots. They're such a fun color. Some of the smaller ones were not very purple yet and looked like they had red blotches. Very pretty either way. They seemed to retain their color when cooked too, which I did not expect. Taste is good too.

An 8 -10 inch cylindrical purple hybrid. A nice productive carrot with good flavor that does quite well here.