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Vegetable Gardening

Carrots taste like ginger/oranges

15 years ago

Pretty much what the title says. This is my first time growing carrots (they look great!) and I'm used to the flavor of store bought baby carrots. I guess nutrients have a lot to do with what the produce tastes like. The soil is primarily red clay but I amended it with bagged compost and some sand. Could the clay give them that taste?

Also, I cut the top off of the carrot (I've only pulled one... lol) and there's a cloudy, sticky, white "ooze" coming out. Not a lot, like when you cut milkweed, more like when tree sap comes out. Is that normal? Like I said this is my first time growing root veggies.

Last question: can carrots be planted as a fall crop for use in spring? I can cover them if need be.

Thanks!!!

Abby

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Comments (4)

farmerdilla
15 years ago
Like with most vegetables, taste is most dependent upon cultivar. Age and rapidity of growth does have some effect. The store bought "baby " carrots are Imperator types carved down. These are the long blunt carrots, but they don't do well in clay soils.
As long as the carrots get adequate growth before freezes, they will hold through the winter. They will try to seed in spring however, so unless you are saving seed, use them in the winter.
phantom_white
Original Author
15 years ago
The varieties I planted are as follows: Chantenay Red Cored, Royal Chantenay, Ingot, Neptune, and Mercury. Come to think of it, the seeds smelled the same way the carrots taste.

Abby
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In my opinion, carrots are not the easiest to grow. The ones I harvest in the summer do not taste as sweet or as great as the ones I plant end of June for harvest after we've had a few light frosts in the fall. The cold evenings force the above ground greens to send their sugars down to the storage root - perfect. Also, I time when I harvest according to my watering schedule - I want them completely turgid with little to no wrinkles for soil to hide in - otherwise they have to be scraped and then they taste like the store bought. I think it is the flavour contained in the outer skin that touches the soil that we love so much, but that could be our taste buds. And I've read hot weather makes them more bitter. I grow the common scarlet nantes and it's hybrid 'sweetness III'. I harvest when the top diameter is approximately an inch (and less when we're craving baby carrots). We have heavy clay soil, so the soil needs to be improved a lot to get carrots that will grow 5 or 6 inches in length, otherwise I end up with nubs! I will admit, I've broke down and purchased several bags of those pre-peeled carrot nubs, and all but one bag were pretty good (one bag the carrots weren't sweet at all). STRAWBERRIES: they always smell so fragrant in their clamshell containers in the stores, but the flavour isn't there for us - we'd rather eat the ones in the garden, even though for me they are a tonne of work to protect from the birds.
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calliope
15 years ago
Welcome to the world of real tastes! My carrots have always been full bodied and pungent. When they're cooked, you'll understand just how great that home grown taste is. I put some around a beef roast right from the garden, and the taste was intense and wonderful. I suspect that is why they taste different from the store bought ones.
phantom_white
Original Author
15 years ago
The varieties I planted are as follows: Chantenay Red Cored, Royal Chantenay, Ingot, Neptune, and Mercury. Come to think of it, the seeds smelled the same way the carrots taste.

Abby

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