Crazy for carrots

"I never worry about diets," observed Mae West. "The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond." Considering the source, such a view is, perhaps, understandable, but it is certainly shortsighted, as the Easter Bunny would surely tell you. After all, the carrot is among the most multi-faceted of all root vegetables.

Added to soups and stews, the carrot lends sweetness; boiled, steamed, or roasted it makes a great side dish; put in a stir-fry it adds color and crunch; its flavor is enhanced by herbs and spices as diverse as thyme, dill, mint, parsley, chervil, ginger and nutmeg; its juice makes a healthy drink; and given that the carrot contains more sugar than any other vegetable except the beet, it can even function as dessert. Indeed, well before the invention of carrot cake (my favorite way to eat my vegetables) carrots were being used in candies and puddings. Carrots don't even have to be cooked to be enjoyed. They're great raw in a salad or as a crudité.

No wonder the carrot is the second most popular vegetable in the world after the potato -- not bad for a plant which, according to the Oxford Companion to Food, "had an unpromising origin." It is, after all, merely a refined version of a common weed -- Queen Anne's lace. In fact, originally the carrot wasn't even orange but just about every color but. In Roman times carrots were purple or white. In Ancient Egypt they were often yellow, green, black, or red. Actually, the word carrot, a word of Celtic origin, means "red of color."

The orange carrot didn't appear on the scene until the 16th century and it was the result of patriotic fervor. Dutch growers, among the leading carrot breeders of the time, developed it in colorful tribute to the House of Orange, the Dutch royal family. It shows up with some regularity in Dutch paintings of the 17th century. Ironically, today purple carrots are staging a comeback. They're now widely available in Great Britain, where the carrot is the No. 1 vegetable.

Its color notwithstanding, the carrot has been around a long time. Fossilized pollen from the carrot family of plants has been dated to as far back as the Eocene period millions of years ago and traces of carrot seeds have been found at prehistoric lake dwellings in Switzerland. But the root itself was probably first cultivated in what is now Afghanistan some 5,000 years ago. Thus, Egyptian temple drawings from 2000 BC depict what look suspiciously like carrots, albeit purple ones. By the 8th century BC the carrot was included in a list of vegetables grown in the royal garden of Babylon.

Initially the carrot was prized merely for its aromatic leaves and seeds. Moreover, it was used medicinally long before it was used as food. The Greeks, for example, thought the carrot was both an aphrodisiac and a cure for venereal disease. (It was the former belief that prompted the demented Roman emperor Caligula to once serve the entire Roman Senate a banquet of nothing but carrots.)

It wasn't until the 12th century that carrots began to be taken seriously as food, thanks to the Spanish who introduced them to the New World. Today the United States is the second largest producer of carrots in the world after China where it is not unheard of for some species to routinely grow as long as 3 feet. The longest carrot ever recorded, by the way, was nearly 17 feet.

Modern science has confirmed that the ancients were wise to consider carrots health food. Carrots have the highest content of vitamin A of any vegetable. They also contain high amounts of beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body, and certain phytochemicals. Thus, they boost immunity, protect the skin from sun damage, and fight infection and may even reduce the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and cancer as well as lower cholesterol levels. They're also a good source of fiber. No wonder Bugs Bunny can always beat Elmer Fudd!

It turns out also that your mother was right when she claimed that carrots are good for your eyes. Both the vitamin A and the beta-carotene in carrots lower the risk of eye disease, including cataracts and macular degeneration, and help counter night blindness. Thus, along with radar, specially bred high carotene carrots were a secret weapon of British RAF pilots in World War II.

Though the best carrot is still an organically grown one with its green top still attached (remove it before storing so it doesn't draw excess moisture out of the root), these days carrots are available in a variety of sizes and shapes, including curls, wave-cut slices, and so-called baby carrots, which aren't babies at all, but full-sized carrots cut on a lathe to look like babies. In whatever form, it would be a shame, especially at Easter, to think of them merely as rabbit food.

Consummate Carrot Cake

Ever since Viola Schlicting of Texas created the first carrot cake in the 1960s, a reworking of her German carrot-nut bread, people have been perfecting the recipe. This version is adapted from "Cooks Illustrated" magazine where after numerous experiments it was concluded that draining the carrots of excess moisture and substituting browned butter for oil are the secrets for making the best carrot cake.

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

7 cups finely grated carrots

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

3 1/4 sticks butter, divided

1 cup light brown sugar

5 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup toasted walnuts

3/4 cup raisins

1 pound cream cheese

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons sour cream

Directions:

Toss the carrots with 1 cup granulated sugar and set in a colander to drain until 1 cup of liquid has collected, about 20 to 30 minutes. Whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, and salt. Melt 2 sticks of the butter over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, and cook until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to large bowl and cool 10 minutes. Whisk in remaining 2/3 cups granulated sugar and the brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time, whisking each in thoroughly. Add vanilla. Blend in flour mixture, stirring just until almost combined. Mix in carrots, nuts, and raisins. Divide batter between two greased and floured 9-inch cake pans and bake at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in center tests clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans and cool completely. For frosting, beat cream cheese and remaining 10 tablespoons butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar and sour cream and blend well.

Listen to A Harte Appetite at 8:49 a.m. Fridays and at 11:59 a.m. Saturdays on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Write A Harte Appetite, c/o the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699 or e-mail him at tharte@semissourian.com.