That baby carrot ain’t so cute. Bigger is definitely better in the land of Carotenoids and Carrot Cake.
Think those baby carrots you toss into your grocery cart are adorable, portable, and free of the hassle of having to peel? Think again bunny babies. Those bite-sized nuggets are hiding an ugly truth behind their seemingly cute facades, kinda like that one night stand from College who wanted to pee on you.
Listen up to why we think the bigger the carrot, the better be the snackin’. Rest assured that once you go big, you’ll never want to go back.
First off, have you noticed the price difference? Why is it that the tiny bag of even tinier carrots is double the price of a sack of massive orange goodness?
This makes even less sense because of the fact that baby carrots don’t grow as baby carrots. Sorry, we hate to break it to you, but there are no teeny tiny baby carrot plants that line row after row of lush, green farms across the nation. Baby carrots are only so small because they are pieces of regular sized carrots that are uniformly cut and processed. This doesn’t sound very natural does it? Especially for those of us who value and love natural, bod-friendly, sustenance from mama earth…and these bouncing babes get even worse.
Ever notice that your baby carrots seem to spend an awful long time hangin’ out in your fridge without even a hint of decay? That’s because these “healthy treats” that you throw in your kids’ lunch boxes every day, and enjoy at your office desk with some lovely hummus are dipped in bleach! Yes, you green gods and goddesses, your precious little carrots are dipped in chlorine to prevent them from turning white during the natural process of “white blushing”. Also, according to Andrea Dickson at WiseBread; baby carrots are made out of a variety of carrot known as the Imperator. They are bred to grow faster and ripen quickly, and because of this, they only have 70% of the beta carotene of a normal carrot.
Dickson also states;
The success of baby carrots speaks to two things about American culture that sort of bug me:
- The desire for food that is uniform in appearance and taste.
- The desire for food to be sterile, already prepared and washed, and packaged for quick, mindless eating.
It’s not that I don’t understand these desires, because it’s easy to confuse uniformity with quality. I can see why someone who has never grown veggies might look askance at a twisted, bumpy carrot with soil still clinging to it. But imperfect food is still perfectly edible, and incredibly delicious. I’m not advocating accepting rotten apples or wilted lettuce, but I think we’ve become lousy consumers if we think that the shape of a carrot will affect its flavor.
So pull a Bugs Bunny and eat your big carrots straight from the earth, stalk, peel and all, just make sure they are organic. There are actually many types of carrots! Read this article and learn all about some delectable and different varieties! And if really need them to be super small cut them yourself, you lazy diva. Once you taste the sweetness of a long, juicy, carrot the way it’s meant to be eaten, you’ll be doin’ a carrot dance in your skivvies. Go big (carrots), or go home.