Black carrot: ancient, he althy, delicious

Black carrot: ancient, he althy, delicious
Black carrot: ancient, he althy, delicious
Anonim

The noble carrot has long been known as an orange vegetable. Generations of people in our country and in the West have grown up believing that this root vegetable has always been orange. However, long before the orange one, there were black carrots that grew throughout Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. It is still grown and consumed today in Turkey, Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan and India.

black carrot
black carrot

Black carrots have hundreds of wild varieties and several cultivars. The Latin name for this plant is scorzonera. According to one version, the name comes from the name of the poisonous snake Scorcone, whose venom, supposedly, could be neutralized using black carrot juice. Another version says that the plant got its name from the words scorza and nera ("black bark").

As for the orange carrots that are familiar to us, they began to cultivate them not so long ago. They say that it owes its color to the small principality of Orange. A native of this principality, William of Orange contributed to the liberation of Holland from Spanish rule. Grateful Dutch farmers broughta new vegetable, painted in the color of the ducal house - orange - and handed it to the descendants of the creator of independent Holland.

black carrot juice
black carrot juice

But back to the scorzonera. Black carrot has long been considered a healing plant, especially in oriental medicine. It has antibacterial properties, scorzonera seed oil promotes hair growth and eliminates itchy scalp. Currently, the plant is also used as a natural dye. But first of all, traditional medicine experts recommend using carrots of this type to combat such serious ailments as cancer and diabetes.

Black carrots contain substances that have the strongest antioxidant properties: the anthocyanins in it are able to counteract the toxins that damage he althy cells during a course of chemotherapy. By the way, it is anthocyanins that give the root crop its characteristic color.

black carrot photo
black carrot photo

Vegetable can be eaten raw, cooked from it salads. Delicious caramelized roasted black carrots. The photo shows how impressive it looks in one of the vegan dishes, but the picture fails to capture the great aroma, including notes of vanilla.

Black Carrot Juice Concentrate contains 12 times more antioxidants than traditional Orange Carrot Concentrate. Despite the color, the vegetable contains 40% more beta-carotene than the orange counterpart. In addition, black root juice contains vitamin A, selenium, potassium, calcium and iron. It improves the condition of the skin and hair, increases the productionsperm in men, good for digestion, cleanses the blood. Due to the presence of insulin, it can be recommended for the nutrition of diabetics and obese people. Moreover, 100 grams of black carrot juice contains only 20 calories.

When Briton John Carrot of Skipton created the World Carrot Museum in 1996, information about black carrots took pride of place along with almost 400-year-old recipes.

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