Trader Joe’s sells them but mixed with other colors, not individually. Pretty sure they also sell them frozen but also mixed.

I think this is the frozen I was thinking of.

Thanks, I wish they were nearby me, they look so tempting.

What are the prices of those you pictured & which seem most popular?

Do you often buy them?

I’ve only bought the ”Petites” and can’t remember the price. I roasted them and didn’t notice much difference in flavor for the purple. Definitely pretty!

ETA - An online check shows $4.29 for the Petites but I’m not sure how current that is.

I get organic in a bunch with tops from the farm, but the purples are mixed in with orange, yellow and white, too. ”Rainbow carrots”. They do sometimes have ”red” carrots in their own bunches, but I've never seen bunches of purple. You could try growing them?

Carrots historically were in lots of colors, but I read that orange dominated as a tribute to the Dutch king. I don't know if that's true, but it wouldn't surprise me. Then people just kept planting orange because it seemed right, or they could get the seeds or something. Or maybe the beta carrotene did it. Folk cultures often pick up on something that's better nutrition (though other times they miss the mark terribly).

The orange carrots descend from the western group of domesticated yellows. Purples come from the eastern group of domestication. Both were grown in Spain for a long time before the Netherlands picked them up. The orange ones were being grown there for a while and being shipped out before the royals took the PR and claimed tribute by virtue of color. Since the Dutch were dominating producers and shipping out lots of orange carrots, it became the popular color of the West.

Rainbow carrots as baby carrots or coins are fun for marketing, but can struggle to sell in their whole form against orange carrots. People are so used to seeing orange ones, other colors can seem odd or be offputting to many. And purple isn't stable under heat, so some folks find color changing veggies a turn off.

Occasionally I see the rainbow carrots at indi or Kroger grocery stores around Chicago area. Maybe Woodmans too.....

The color of purple carrots is very similar to "beetroot". Beets are found on the eastern region and are very delicious and nutritious. They are sweet, and I love them. I'm sorry I couldn't provide information about purple carrots; instead, you got to know about beets :)

Differnt chemicals. Beets, red and yellow, have betalains causing the color. Anthocyanins are what causes the purple in purple carrots. Orange and yellow carrots get their color from carotenoids.

Random about beets. They wre originally grown for their greens rather than the root. Though the red and yellow ones have been around a long time, yellow suffered in preference against red akin to how purple carrot suffered against the more popular orange ones.

I can buy rainbow, but invariably I’m disappointed with how few purple come in the pack. White just look like one of several other root vegetables, and if I wanted orange I’d buy orange. Even these pictures from whole foods show the issue:

I see i can order just purple

Thanks everyone! foodonastump, that purple carrot bunch looks interesting, and its "dirt cheap" forgive the pun. Maybe I'll discuss it with the produce manager at a local store. Also i agree about the small selection of one's preferred colors whenever there are multicolors. For example with mini-peppers the majority are often orange color peppers, whereas I actually like the red and yellow ones best.

Agree regarding small selection of preferred colors!

I also agree. I like the bright yellow ones the best, but usually get mostly white and orange in a mixed bunch here at my local Meijer. I can go 60 miles to Whole Foods, but theirs is very similar, as is the Trader Joe's which is also 60 miles away. I grow different colors, so that works in the summer/fall, but they only stay good so long and then I can them or add them to soup and I'm back to what is available at the grocery store.

Annie

I have found them in the farmers' markets in Los Angeles, but I haven't looked for them in Palm Springs or Palm Desert. I think they would be at any large farmers' market in California, however.