Vegetable
Daucus carota
S tier
Daucus carota covers wild Queen Anne's lace and every cultivated carrot—orange Imperators, purple heritage roots, and pale yellows under one species. Domesticated subspecies sativus stores sugar and carotenoids in a swollen taproot selected away from the thin, bitter wild form. Flavour runs from candy-sweet to resinous-spicy depending on type and soil. Eat raw, roast, juice, or braise. Tops are edible herb in moderation. When recipes say carrot without a colour or shape class, they mean cultivated D. carota sativus of some market type.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Early cultivated carrots in the Afghanistan region included purple and yellow roots.
Dutch selection popularised orange carrots that became the global default.
Industrial packing standardised long orange roots for shipping.
Rainbow heritage colours returned beside commodity orange carrots.