There are two non-mysterious things that everyone knows about carrots. They are orange and they help prevent night blindness because they are chock-full of vitamin C. Both of these facts are technically incorrect. Carrots were formerly every color but orange: red, black, yellow, white and especially purple. 

First cultivated in Afghanistan in the 7th century, carrots originally had purple exteriors and yellow flesh. In the Middle Ages, the Dutch developed the bright orange carrot we now know as the bearer of carotene. Once in contact with the human intestine it is converted to vitamin A. 

There are two non-mysterious things that everyone knows about carrots. They are orange and they help prevent night blindness because they are chockful of vitamin C. Both of these facts are technically incorrect.

Carrots were formerly every color but orange: red, black, yellow, white and especially purple. First cultivated in Afghanistan in the 7th century, carrots originally had purple exteriors and yellow flesh. In the Middle Ages, the Dutch developed the bright orange carrot we now know as the bearer of carotene. Once in contact with the human intestine it is converted to vitamin A. 

Because of this vegetable's inherent sweetness, it has been used for desserts and candies long before the ubiquitous carrot cake. The Irish and English make a carrot pudding, the French make a cream with candied slivers of carrots in it, "tzimmes" a sweet carrot stew, is traditional for the Jewish New Year and early New Englanders gave carrot cookies as Christmas gifts. Two billion pounds of carrots are grown annually in this country alone, mainly in Texas, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Quite a few also emanate from Holtville, California which dubs itself "The Carrot Capital of the World."