A baby carrot is a
carrot
The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...
harvested before reaching maturity and sold at that smaller size. A baby-cut carrot is a small piece cut from a larger carrot; baby-cut carrots are often marketed as "baby carrots", leading to potential confusion.
Baby carrots
![Baby Carrots 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Baby_Carrots_2.jpg)
The immature roots of the carrot plant are sometimes harvested simply as the result of crop
thinning
Thinning is a term used in agricultural sciences to mean the removal of some plants, or parts of plants, to make room for the growth of others. Selective removal of parts of a plant such as branches, buds, or roots is typically known as pruning.
...
, but are also grown to this size as a specialty crop. Certain
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...
s of carrots have been bred to be used at the "baby" stage. One such cultivar is 'Amsterdam Forcing'. This process was developed at Beechnut Farms, bought by Zellwin Farms. These farms originally developed food for World War II, but wanted to sell food for civilians. A team of two led the research. According to
Dole
Dole may refer to:
Places
* Dole, Ceredigion, Wales
* Dole, Idrija, Slovenia
* Dole, Jura, France
** Arrondissement of Dole
* Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska
* Dole, LjubuĆĄk ...
, baby carrots are sweeter and more tender than full-grown carrots.
"Baby-cut" carrots
Taking fully grown carrots and cutting them to a smaller size was an innovation made by
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
carrot farmer
Mike Yurosek in 1986.
In 2006, nearly three-quarters of the fresh "baby-cut" carrots produced in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
came from
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
.
Bolthouse Farms
Bolthouse Farms, founded 1915 in Grant, Michigan, is a vertically integrated farm company specializing in refrigerated beverages. It is located in the San Joaquin Valley of California and is headquartered in Bakersfield, California in Kern County. ...
and
Grimmway Farms are the world's two largest growers, processors, and shippers of "baby-cut" carrots.
Production
To make "baby-cut" carrots, large carrots are put into a machine and cut into sections, then abraded (scraped) down to size, their ends rounded by the same process.
# In the field, two-story carrot harvesters use long metal prongs to open up the soil, while rubber belts grab the green tops and pull. The carrots ride up the belts to the top of the picker, where an automated cutter snips off the greens.
# They are trucked to the processing plant, where they are put in icy water to bring their temperature down to to inhibit spoiling.
# They are sorted by thickness. Thin carrots continue on the processing line; the others will be used as whole carrots, juice, or cattle feed. An inspector looks for rocks, debris or malformed carrots that slip through.
# The carrots are shaped into pieces by automated cutters. An optical sorter discards any piece that has green on it.
# The pieces are pumped through pipes to the peeling tanks. The peelers rotate, scraping the skin off the carrots. There are two stages: an initial rough peel and then a final "polishing."
# To reduce microbial contamination, "baby-cut" carrots may be treated with small amounts of
chlorine
Chlorine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate betwee ...
.
Those that are so treated will be subsequently rinsed with potable water to remove the excess chlorine before being packaged.
According to the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; french: Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being o ...
, the use of chlorine as an antimicrobial treatment (similar to the chlorination of drinking water) is a current accepted practice in the processing for all fresh-cut ready-to-eat vegetables.
# The carrots are weighed and bagged by an automated scale and packager, then placed in cold storage until they are shipped.
The white blush sometimes visible on the surface of "baby-cut" carrots is caused by dehydration of the cut surface. "Baby-cut" carrots are more prone to develop this because their entire surface area is a cut surface. Low-temperature, high-humidity storage can minimize the white appearance.
Marketing
In September 2010, a marketing initiative was launched in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
by a group of nearly 50 carrot producers led by
Bolthouse Farms
Bolthouse Farms, founded 1915 in Grant, Michigan, is a vertically integrated farm company specializing in refrigerated beverages. It is located in the San Joaquin Valley of California and is headquartered in Bakersfield, California in Kern County. ...
(calling themselves "A Bunch of Carrot Farmers") that sought to promote baby-cut carrots as an alternative to
junk food
"Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calories from sugar and/or fat, and possibly also sodium, but with little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value. It is also known as HF ...
. The campaign mimicked tactics typically employed by snack food marketers, including snack-food-like packaging; futuristic, sexual, and extreme sports-themed TV commercials; carrot vending machines in schools; and an
iPhone game and website.
References
External links
*
The Baby Carrot Association of America
{{Carrots
1986 introductions
Miniature versions of vegetables
Root vegetables
Carrot