Book 9, Question 80
Why Are Carrots Orange?
Carrots are orange because they are packed with an orange pigment called beta-carotene! Your body turns it into vitamin A, which helps your eyes and skin. Long ago, carrots also came in other colors, like purple and yellow.
More fun facts
- Wild carrots were white.
- The first farmed carrots, grown about 1,100 years ago in Central Asia, were purple and yellow.
- Orange carrots showed up later, in Europe in the 1500s.
- Orange carrots get their color from pigments called alpha carotene and beta carotene.
- Red carrots get their color from lycopene, yellow ones from lutein, and purple ones from anthocyanin.
- Carotene pigments were first discovered in carrots.
- Thanks to breeding, carrots have about 50 percent more carotene today than they did in 1970.
Questions kids ask
Why did farmers pick orange carrots?
People liked their color and sweeter flavor, so farmers kept growing and choosing the orange ones.