Why are carrots orange?

We are used to the fact that only orange carrots grow in the garden, and not, say, purple. But why? Let's find out what role selection played in this phenomenon, what were the ancestors of our favorite vegetable, and also what natural dye gives the carrots an orange color.

It is generally accepted that garden plants are the result of the cultivation of their wild ancestors. Does this mean that modern carrots are a direct descendant of wild ones? But no! Surprisingly, wild and home carrots are not relatives, root crops belong to different types. Even today, scientists have failed to remove edible carrots from wild carrots. The ancestor of the house carrot is still unknown. But we know the history of root crop breeding.

The first data on cultivation belong to the eastern countries. Cultivated varieties of carrots were grown 5000 years ago in Afghanistan, and in the north of Iran there is a valley with a self-explanatory name - Carrot Field. Interestingly, carrots were originally grown for the sake of fragrant leaves, not root crops. And it is not surprising, because it was impossible to eat carrots - they were thin, tough and bitter.

Researchers distinguish two groups of domesticated carrots. The first, Asian, was cultivated around the Himalayas. The second, western, grew in the Middle East and Turkey.

About 1,100 years ago, a mutation of the western group of vegetables resulted in purple and yellow carrots.

In the 10th century, Muslims, conquering new territories, planted it with new plants for the area, such as olives, pomegranates and carrots. The latter was white, red and yellow. These varieties began to spread throughout Europe.

It is also possible that the orange carrot in the form of seeds was brought to Europe by Islamic traders. This happened 200 years before the uprising in the Netherlands, led by William of Orange, with whose name the appearance of the orange carrot will be associated.

One hypothesis is that the orange carrot was developed by Dutch gardeners in the 16th and 17th centuries in honor of Prince William of Orange.

The fact is that Duke William of Orange (1533-1594) led the Dutch uprising for independence from Spain. Wilhelm managed to invade even the powerful England at that time, changing it beyond recognition, and New York was called New Orange for a whole year after. Orange became the family color of the Orange family and the personification of faith and power for the Dutch.

There was an explosion of patriotism in the country. Citizens painted their houses orange, built castles Oranjevaud, Oranienstein, Oranienburg and Oranienbaum. The breeders did not stand aside and, as a token of gratitude for independence, brought out the "royal" variety of carrots - orange. Soon, a delicacy of this particular color remained on the tables of Europe. In Russia, orange carrots appeared thanks to Peter I.

And although the theory of "Dutch breeders" is confirmed by Dutch paintings with images of the royal variety, some data contradict it. So, in Spain, in the XIV century, cases of the cultivation of orange and purple carrots were documented.

It could have been easier.

It is likely that Dutch farmers selected the orange carrot because of its humid and mild weather adaptability and sweet taste. According to geneticists, the selection was accompanied by the activation of the gene for accumulation of beta-carotene in the fetus, which gives the orange color.

The orange color is the result of a mixture of white, yellow and purple varieties. Perhaps the Dutch bred an orange root crop by crossing red and yellow carrots. Red was obtained by crossing white with purple, and mixing with yellow gave orange. To understand the mechanism, let's figure out which substances give plants their color.

Plant cells contain:

• carotenoids - substances of a fatty nature, giving red shades from purple to orange;

• xanthophylls and lycopene - pigments of the carotenoid class, lycopene colors the watermelon red;

• anthocyanins - blue and violet pigments of carbohydrate origin.

As already mentioned, carrots used to be white. But the white color is not due to pigments, but to their absence, like in albinos. The coloration of modern carrots is due to their high beta-carotene content.

Plants need pigments for metabolism and photosynthesis. According to the idea of ​​carrots underground, there is no need to have a color, because light does not enter the ground.

Artificial selection has changed not only the color of the carrot, but also its shape, weight and taste. Remember when we mentioned that carrots used to be grown for their leaves? Thousands of years ago, the vegetable was white, thin, asymmetrical and tough like a tree. But among the bitter and small roots, the villagers found something larger and sweeter, they were also put off for planting in the next season.

The root crop more and more adapted to the harsh climatic conditions. The yellow, red specimens differed in chemical composition from the pale wild ancestor. The accumulation of carotenoids was accompanied by the loss of some essential oils, which made the vegetable much sweeter.

So, a person, wanting to eat more and tastier, changed the plants around him beyond recognition. Show us now the wild ancestors of our fruits and vegetables, we would grimace.

Thanks to the selection, we have a choice of how to pamper ourselves for dinner.... You come to such amazing conclusions by asking a seemingly simple "childish" question, and they are the most profound and interesting.