[Eliana]

LOL! This has got to be the lamest thread ever. I'm hoping to inspire someone to eat a vegetable.

So if you are a baby carrot fan and have gotten into a rut of eating only baby carrots, give a full carrot a try. They're quite sweet!

Are you a big carrot or a baby carrot fan? I like both, but I think the bigger ones are sweeter and just more fun.

[pokeycactus]

I adore baby carrots. I mix up some nonfat plain yogurt with Hidden Valley Ranch mix and dip the baby carrots...sooooo good. And you're only getting the calories of the yogurt, since the mix is like, 5 calories per tablespoon.

[NebraskaLady]

Sweater and also a lot cheaper.

[PeanutsMom704]

I mostly use big carrots because they are easier to slice up to put in my salad. I eat 4-5 oz of carrots in my salad, which works out to 2-3 big (not huge!) carrots, so I cut up a couple of pounds at a time.

I like the small ones if I'm making a veggie platter, but in a salad, I prefer them sliced into rounds. The small ones are also good if you want to roast carrots, which are delicious coated with a bit of italian salad dressing - you can use a low fat, but not FF because it does need a little bit of oil.

[Eliana]

Originally Posted by NebraskaLady

Sweater and also a lot cheaper.

And I have yet to find a slimy big carrot. My baby carrots are so often slimy...ew.

[SwimGirl]

I love carrots too.. and yes.. what a funny thread In the warmer months I cut up TONS of them, wrap them in tin foil and bbq them! Yummy, with a little dill, very very yummy..

-Aimee

[Michelle98272]

In an effort to stretch my budget, I have been buying a big bag of full size carrots instead of the "baby" carrots and cutting them into sticks on Sundays when I do my weekly prep of OP foods.

I was surprised, thinking I wouldn't like them but I feel they are even better tasting than the small ones. A few days ago, I ran out of cut carrots and in a rush to get out the door with some OP foods for the day, I just grabbed two carrots and threw them in my lunch bag. When lunch rolled around I just munched on them like Bugs Bunny. Eh, What's up Doc?

The best carrots ever though are the ones I remember from my childhood. Pulled fresh out of the ground by the green tops, dirt rubbed off on my play clothes and eaten just like that. Yum.

[paris81]

Originally Posted by Eliana

And I have yet to find a slimy big carrot. My baby carrots are so often slimy...ew.

Yes! What is with the baby carrot slimy-ness!? Sometimes, they just get so gross. I don't eat carrots much, but when I do, it's anybody's guess which one I'll go for--I'm wild and unpredicatable!

[JustBeckyV]

I am too lazy to mess with cutting them up lol baby carrots for me - gonna have some right now!

[cathydoe]

I need to eat more veggies. I am veggie-challenged! I usually buy the baby carrots and I am with some of you...that sliminess is YUCKY! Last time I bought the big ones...

[Shmead]

The "baby carrots" are just cut down big carrots, so the taste difference (and slime issues) are related to the fact that they've been peeled, I would think. Fresh peeling probably makes a difference.

I buy the baby ones because I'm lazy.

[kaplods]

I like both, and sometimes even have a bag of each in the frige. Usually we buy whichever is cheapest (usually big carrrots, but not always).

I find that some brands of baby carrots are always slimy, and some brands are never slimy. The ones we buy from Sam's Club are never slimy, but they do sometimes look a bit dry (like regular carrots do) after they've been stored in the fridge for a while. They also last much longer in the fridge. Because they last longer, but don't look as pretty, I think the moisture is added to make them "look" fresher (but in reality they spoil more quickly).

My favorite carrots are the dark purple or red ones we get at the farmer's market. Vegetables taste so much better when they're really fresh (hours from the ground). I tend to prefer the older Hmong vendors, because their custom is to pick the vegetables early on the day they sell them, and they don't wash or trim the vegetables (so they don't spoil as quickly, and they leave the veggie intact, so if the tops are edible, you get them too). They also tend to use more organic farming methods (most could be certified organic, but their prices are better because they don't go through the expense and red tape of the certification process).

You also notice a difference in the produce itself. In general, the asian vendors grow for flavor and to a lesser degree appearance. Wonderful flavors and colors.

The caucasian vendors seem to grow for appearance (uniform size and symmetry), and hardiness for transport after picking. They generally remove the beet, turnip, kohrabi tops. I suspect because with the tops, it's easier to estimate how long they've been out of the ground. The tops wilt quickly, so they're removed. I think it's also seen as a better value to those who aren't eating the tops (if the price is per pound).

I've heard white folks gripe about the Hmong leaving the tops on and the plant unwashed, because they think they're being cheated. I've even butted in to point out the advantages - why they're really getting cheated if they buy washed and trimmed veggies. Why if it looks like it's from a grocery store, that isn't a good thing.

That really stumps me, the folks who expect farmer's market produce to look like grocery store produce, even when it's explained to them why it shouldn't. "But it looks nicer..."

Well do you want to eat it, or look at it?


We were talking to the Hmong owners of our favorite restaurant (they've become good friends) about an article we'd read in the local paper about one of the Hmong vendors (turns out to have been a relative).

The family were selling red carrots and other vegetables that are unusual to most caucasians in the area. The carrots look like the ones I remember from my grandparents garden (polish and german). Not long, smooth and slender, but small, stumpy and bumpy (and much more delicious).

They weren't selling the carrots very well, except to other Hmong, but when the food editor of the local paper, wrote a feature article on this Hmong family and gushed about the flavor, quality, and price of the "exotic" vegetables at their stand, especially the purple/red carrots - the next Farmer's market day they sold out in the first hour.

Mmmm, now I'm really hungry for farmers' market produce. Only two more months of waiting. Our farmers' markets are open mid-March thrugh mid-November and it never seems long enough.

[marigrace]

Not that those "baby" carrots arent cute, and convenient, but they aren't really babies at all. The manufacturers have come up with a way to salvage profits from broken or "slightly imperfect" (lol) carrots. I have a friend who is a food activist, farmer, and horticulture expert. She says that they just whittle these whittle guys down and shape them them into "babies". That might explain why they don't taste as sweet.

[gumboot]

I've never been a fan of carrots in general. As I've matured I find I like the big carrots baked or braised. Sometimes raw. I cannot stand the baby carrots.....maybe the slim turns me off. Dunno.

[PeanutsMom704]

I had no idea about the baby carrots really being "baby-cut" carrots!! They are convenient for making a veggie platter, though!

interesting article about the history of baby carrots

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifesty...y-carrot_x.htm