daily about one vegetable -(history)

[prasanna]

Carrot History Part Two - From Medicine to Food

A.D. 200 to 1800

This page from AD 200 to 1800 - From Medicine to Food

History 1 - from early beginnings, Neolithic times to A.D. 200

History 3 - 1800 to date   - Evolution and Improvement

The name Carota for the garden Carrot is found first in the writings of Athenaeus (A.D. 200), and in the book on cookery by Apicius Czclius. It was Galen the Greek physician at the court of Marcus Aurelius (second century A.D.) who named the wild carrot Daucus pastinaca  (adding the name Daucus) to distinguish the Carrot from the Parsnip, though confusion remained steadfast until botanist Linnaeus set the record straight in the 18th century with his system of plant classification. The Greeks called the carrot Philon or Philtron from their word philo that means loving. However, the carrot's Latin name Daucus carota most influenced its present name that came from the French who named it carotte.

Galen said that the wild carrot "is less fit to be eaten than the cultivated variety".

By the eighth century people had been using herbs as medical tools for over four thousand years. Herbalism and medicine were essentially the same practice.

Alcuin (ca. 732-804), who was an Anglo-Latin scholar asked - "What is an herb?" According to legend, he posed this question to his pupil Charlemagne, the 8th century ruler of France. The King's reply was, "The friend of physicians and the praise of cooks." That an herb should be called "the friend of physicians" might seem odd to twenty first century readers, but Charlemagne's answer was certainly true of his time.

Charlemagne welcomed new fruits and vegetables into his royal gardens and set aside an area for growing carrots, though their flavour did not win them a great deal of acceptance there either. To lessen their appeal, the purple carrots turned brown when cooked. Worse still, any liquid and foods cooked in the same pot also turned brown.

The medicinal properties of the carrot were already well established. You can find more about the wonderful health properties on the nutrition pages.

In 10th Century  carrot consumption is traced to the hill people of Afghanistan (ad 900), who were sun-worshippers and believed that eating orange or yellow coloured foods instilled a sense of righteousness. People also ate yellow and purple conical tap root varieties of carrots in Pakistan. At this time Arab merchants traversing the trade routes of Africa, Arabia, and Asia brought seeds of this purple carrot back home with them. From their villages and cities along the coast of North Africa, Moors brought the carrot up into Spain and to the rest of Europe, probably from Afghanistan. Yellow and purple carrots are first recorded in Asia Minor and the Byzantine Empire (now Turkey) in the 10th century. This was a mutation which effectively removed the anthocyanins which gives the red/purple colour.

purple carrotsCenturies passed before the carrot received additional mention in historical literature. In the 12th century Moorish invaders (from Morocco) and then Arabian traders brought seeds of purple and a mutants yellow carrots to the Mediterranean via the coast of North Africa, along with spinach and aubergines. They quickly spread across Europe from Spain, into Holland, France and finally England.

During that period the carrot travelled westward into the Mediterranean countries. Arab writer, in Spain Ibn al-Awam , citing a much older work gave a definitive description of two varieties of carrots he encountered in the early part of the 12th century: a red one (probably purple) he says is tasty and juicy and the other, a yellow and green carrot, he calls coarser and of inferior flavour. Al-Awam writes that carrots were served with a dressing of oil and vinegar or added to vegetable mixtures and cereals, probably grains.

Al-Awam who lived in Andalusia, a region in southern Spain, noted that Arab travellers brought carrots from their homeland to the European continent. The curious carrot traversed the route eastward via European travellers and explorers to set its roots into India and the Far East during the 13th century. By the 14th century the Netherlands, France and Germany were introduced to the carrot. It took another century to reach England's shores during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

By the 13th century carrots were being grown in fields, orchards, gardens, and vineyards in Germany and France. At that time the plant was known also in China, where it was supposed to have come from Persia. Doctors in the Middle Ages prescribed carrots as a medicine for every possible affliction, from syphilis to dog bites!

The curious carrot traversed the route eastward via European travellers and explorers to set its roots into India and the Far East during the 13th century.

The 14th century  -  In approx 1350 it is known from archaeological evidence that they consumed a variety of vegetables, both grown in gardens and gathered in the wild in the British Isles. Vegetables known from Jorvík (modern York) or Dublin include carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery, spinach, wild celery, cabbage, radishes, fava beans, and peas.

In the Netherlands, France and Germany were introduced to the carrot. It took another century to reach England's shores during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. carrots had spread across north-western Europe. Poor country dwelling folk used the roots for soups that formed the main staple diet.

In the 15th century these early varieties were introduced to England by Flemish refugees who grew them in quantity mainly in Kent and Surrey.

Carrot is also mentioned by Italian cook Bartolomeo Sacchi (a.k.a Platina) in his dish "Cariota" - Here are some words and, and recipes of sorts, for both the carrot and the parsnip. He considers them simply variations of the same medicinally useful vegetable.

(From De Honesta Voluptate (On Honest Indulgence and Good Health), Bartolomeo Platina,  -On Right Pleasure and Good Health; Platina 1475, from the Milham translation).

Cariota - Roast carrots in the coals, then peel them, cleaning off the ashes, and cut them up. Put in a dish with oil, vinegar and a bit of wine; scatter a few mild herbs on the top.

On the Carrot and Parsnip - There are two kinds of parsnip (probably parsnip and carrot).  Doctors say that the parnsip is white while the carrot is red or almost black.  Both are difficult to digest and of little and harsh nourishment. The parsnip should be boiled twice, with the first water thrown away, and cooked with lettuce the second time. Transferred from there to a dish and seasoned with salt, vinegar, coriander, and pepper, it is suitable to eat, for it settles cough, pleurisy, and dropsy, and arouses passion. It is even customary for it to be rolled in meal and fried in oil and fat when it has been hollowed out after the first boiling.
Carrot is seasoned in the same way as parsnip, but it is considered sweeter if cooked under warm ash and coals. When it is taken out, it should cool a little, be peeled, scraped entirely free of ash, cut up in bits and transferred in to a dish. Salt should be added, oil and vinegar sprinkled on, some condensed must or must added, and sweet spices sprinkled over. There is nothing more pleasant to eat than this. It is good for people in two respects, for it represses bile and moves the urine. In other ways it is harmful, as it is for liver, stomach, and spleen.

After Columbus' first visit to the Caribbean in 1492, the islands became the melting pot of the world with explorers from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America who each brought plants, animals, and customs from their homelands.

By the 16th century nearly all the botanists and writers on gardening, all over Europe, were familiar with the carrot and were describing many kinds, including red and purple kinds in France and yellow and red kinds in England. Daucus came to be the official name in the sixteenth century, and was adopted by Linnaeus in the eighteenth century. It is thought that for the first few hundred years of its managed cultivation, carrot roots were predominantly purple. The Carrot crossed the English Channel via France in the early 16th century bringing its French name "carotte" to England.

The Orange Carrot Arrives ! The noble carrot has long been known as an orange vegetable thanks to patriotic Dutch growers who bred the vegetable to make it less bitter than the yellow varieties, and then it was adopted it as the Royal vegetable in honour of the House of Orange.  The King at the time was William of Orange (1533–84), also known as William the Silent.

Carrots were originally purple or red, with a thin root. The species did not turn orange until the 1500's when Dutch agricultural scientists and growers used a mutant yellow carrot seed from North Africa to develop a carrot in the colour of the House of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family.  In an attempt to "nationalize" the country's favourite vegetable they began experiments on improving the pale yellow versions by cross breeding them with red varieties. These varieties contain beta carotene to produce orange-coloured roots This was developed to become the dominant species across the world - wonderful, sweet orange.

It is said, (without much historical reference) that the orange carrot was developed in Holland as a tribute to William I of Orange during the Dutch fight for independence from Spain in the 16th century. The orange carrot, not only had a better taste but also had beta carotene making it healthier, and so all other carrots stopped being planted.  

By the 1700s Holland was considered the leading country in carrot breeding and today's "modern" orange version is directly descended from the Dutch-bred carrots of this time. Successive hybridization intensified the widely recognized "orange" colour of today.  This is the most commonly grown species today
The 16th Century witnessed the used of carrots as flavourings for meat dishes, rather than a main vegetable. The herbalist Gerard noted that the yellow carrot has a mild flavour. In 1598, Juan de Oñate, descendant of a wealthy mining family in Zacatecas, Mexico, won the contract to settle New Mexico. Oñate's expedition was a fully fledged colonising twin carrotenterprise, and the introduction of new animals and plants was an important part of the plan.  Various accounts credit Oñate with the introduction to Mexico of carrots (amongst other vegetables and a variety of herbs and spices).

It was first generally cultivated  in England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, being introduced by the Flemings, who took refuge from the persecutions of Philip II of Spain, and who, finding the soil about Sandwich peculiarly favourable for it, grew it there largely. The vegetable was a firm favourite of Queen Elizabeth 1 of England. It seems royalty really got the ball rolling when a deputy to the English court presented Queen Elizabeth I with a tub of butter and a wreath of tender carrots emblazoned with diamonds. Lore has it that she removed the diamonds and sent the carrots and butter to the kitchen. They returned as the classic side dish: buttered carrots.

Carrots were slowly accepted for culinary usage during Elizabethan times. The yellow varieties were more popular as the purple strains turned brown and mushy when cooked.

17th Century - Both yellow and purple varieties were grown in Europe until the 17th century. As vegetables were at that time rather scarce in England, the Carrot's delicious root was warmly welcomed and became a general favourite, its cultivation spreading over the country.  In the 1600's, in England, carrots were common enough to be grown as a farm crop as well as in small garden plots The Wild Carrot, Daucus Carota, became known as Queen Anne's Lace, oddly enough at the time of Queen Anne (1655-1714) and the wild carrot so called remains today, although the name is of American origin. See more on the wild carrot page. By the 1600's carrots along with cabbages, onions, and garlic were growing on many of the Caribbean  islands.  was even found growing on an island off the coast of Venezuela when it was discovered in 1565.

Wild Carrot alongside domesticatedThe New World - Carrots arrived before the Mayflower. European voyagers carried the carrot to America soon after discovery of the New World.  The cultivated European carrot was founds growing on Margarita Island, off the coast of Venezuela, in 1565,as shown by Sir John Hawkins's reference to it

It was grown by the struggling colonists of the first permanent English settlement in the New World, at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1609. They planted cucumbers at the same time. Twenty years later the Pilgrims, or some of those who followed them closely, were growing carrots in Massachusetts in 1629. The Pilgrims themselves may have introduced it there.  The plants were grown from seeds brought by the colonists and very soon the plants escaped into the wild. Crow native Americans used the escaped wild carrot as a diuretic and stimulant to bring on menstruation.

Before the middle of the 17th century it was known in Brazil.

In the 1600's improved strains resulted in three main varieties, the yellow, red and deep gold. During this time carrots slowly gained acceptance as a vegetable to accompany boiled beef. Carrots were assumed to have aphrodisiac qualities. John Evelyn (1620-1706), an English virtuoso and writer, was a pivotal figure in seventeenth-century intellectual life in England. He left an immensely rich literary heritage, which is of great significance for scholars interested in garden history and the histories of intellectual life and architecture. Evelyn thought the yellow carrots to be the most nutritious. Roots were also used to feed livestock and it was reputed that cattle fed on carrots produced a superior quality milk. This was later found to be just the opposite as the feeding of too many carrots leads to a bitter milk!

Picture showing carrot leaves in a hat In the reign of James I, it became the fashion for ladies to use flowers, fruit, feathers and the like to decorate their clothes. This was amusingly extended to the use of Wild Carrot flowers and its feathery leaves and stalks to decorate their hair, hats, sleeves, dresses and coats. The lacy green foliage  was especially fashionable during the autumn months when the leaves took on a reddish colouration.

It is mentioned appreciatively by Shakespeare in The Merry Wives of Windsor. >

A very charming, fern-like decoration can be obtained if the thick end of a large carrot is cut off and placed in a saucer of water in a warm place; the young and delicate leaves soon begin to sprout and form a pretty tuft of verdant green.  In later times carrots became popular with Puritans who encouraged the growing of all root vegetables.

At that time, doctors prescribed carrots for everything from sexual maladies to snakebite which some would argue, are biblically connected.

European "herbalists" flourished in the 16th century. Renaissance and herbalism also included the curious Doctrine of Signatures that prescribed heart shaped leaves for heart ailments, suggestively shaped roots (like carrot) for reproductive disorders and so on. This system rose independently in many cultures and occasionally proved effective.

Nicholas Culpeper (1653) said of carrots that "Wild carrots belong to Mercury, and expel wind and remove stitches in the side, promote the flow of urine and women's courses, and break and expel the stone; the seed has the same effect and is good for dropsy, and those whose bowels arebunch of carrots swollen with wind: It cures colic, stone, and rising of the mother; being taken in wine or boiled in wine and taken, it helpeth conception. The leaves being applied with honey to running sores or ulcers cleanse them; I suppose the seeds of them perform this better than the roots: and though Galen recommended garden carrots highly to expel wind, yet they breed it first, and we may thank nature for expelling it, not they; for the seeds of them expel wind and so mend what the root marreth."

In 1629, four years after the death of Queen Anne, John Parkinson published his monumental "Great Herbal," an encyclopaedia of all the plants then known. Parkinson says that the carrot's fine-textured leaves:

"... in Autumne will turn to be of a fine red or purple (the beautie whereof allureth many Gentlewomen oftentimes to gather the leaves, and stick them in their hats ... in stead of feathers.)"

In 1633 John Gerard's "Herball or General Historie of Plantes" refers to "Pastinaca sativa tenuifolia, Pastinaca sativa atro-rubens. - Carrots. The root of the yellow Carrot is most commonly boiled with fat flesh and eaten... The red Carrot is of like facultie with the yellow."

>It was long cultivated on the Continent before it became known in England.

By the 1700's Holland was the leading country in carrot breeding. At the time four main orange varieties existed - Early Half Long, Late Half Long, Scarlet Horn and Long Orange. All modern Hybrids are derived from these four strains. It was attractive enough to figure in several Dutch masters paintings. See the Art page for some truly great works of art featuring carrots.

General John SullivanWe also know that this root crop was adopted by Native Americans, because it was listed among the Native American crops destroyed by General John Sullivan's army in 1779.

In forays against the Iroquois in upper New York State in 1779 Gen. John Sullivan's forces destroyed stores of carrots as well as parsnips. The story is told that children of the Flathead tribe in Oregon liked carrots so well that they could not resist stealing them from the fields, although they resisted stealing other things.

Find out more about John Sullivan (1740-1795) by clicking the picture.

Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson  (3rd President of the Unites States) raised several types of carrots in his Monticello garden. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture."

The gardens at Monticello were a botanic garden, an experimental laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world. At Monticello, Jefferson cultivated over 250 vegetable varieties in his 1000-foot-long garden terrace and 170 fruit varieties in the eight-acre fruit garden, designed romantic grottos, garden temples, and ornamental groves, and took visitors on rambling surveys of his favourite "pet trees."  Jefferson was crazy about gardening.

He also said "I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables which constitute my principal diet." (TJ to Dr. Vine Utley, 21 March 1819)

Carrots were allowed to escape cultivation and subsequently turned into the omnipresent and delicate wild flower  "Queen Anne's Lace" which in some US counties is still considered a pest today. Find out more about the wild carrot on its own page. Click here.

When the British Navy blockaded West Indian sugar from entering Europe in the 18th century, chemists made sugar from organic carrots, much as sugar is still extracted from beets (incidentally, rabbits much prefer beets to carrots).


In the long history of plant science, no name is more famous than that of Linnaeus and no book is more highly regarded than his "Species Plantarum," published in 1753, the starting-point for the Latin binomial, or two-word, names of plants. These are recognized in all countries, and so enable positive identification of a plant species anywhere, regardless of innumerable vernacular names.

Theophrastus, the father of botany used binomials even in the 4th century B.C., but it was Linnaeus who systematized them and made them into a workable code of nomenclature, distinguishing for the first time between species and varieties, and making the species the unit of classification. He recognised Daucus Pastinaca in the first edition.

First records in Australia show it arrived in 1788 with the First Fleet and convicts planted 'Long Orange' carrots on Norfolk Island just two weeks after their arrival and gathered in their first harvest in October of that year. Along with the cabbage, it became an important food for the colonists. Visit the Australia page for more information.

The most important development of the carrot took place at this time when Dutch growers selected and improved existing yellow strains. They were crossed with red varieties containing anthocyanin to produce orange coloured roots. Through successive hybridization the orange colour intensified. Improved strains resulted in three main varieties red, yellow and deep gold.


Reference material is here.
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[tourbi]

Goodness, that is quite a history.  I never knew all that.  Thank you for sharing it

[prasanna]

thanks tourbi for all your kind replies , i feel happy whenever  i see u replying to all others' posts , u only inspired me to post more articles , from tomo iam planning to post articles  on tamil literature and poetries of famous tamil poets   like the thirukural of sri thiruvluvar ji , bharathiyarji .etc  etc

LET me do service to my mother tongue and mother land ,



JAI HIND

prasanna