An ancient Roman cookbook offers four ways to prepare carrots, but Roman carrots differed from modern carrots in which of these ways?
A) They were too bitter to eat raw B) They were white or purple, never orange ü C) They contained toxic quantities of Vitamin A D) Only wealthy citizens could afford them
The carrot family is an ancient one, with fossil pollen dating back 50 million years. The wild carrot eaten by ancient Europeans was white; purple carrots grew in Afghanistan five thousand years ago. Over the years, red, black and yellow carrots were developed, but an orange carrot did not appear until the 17th century, when Dutch farmers crossed red and yellow carrots to achieve the color that is so strongly associated with carrots today. Other colors may now be making a comeback, however: in 2002 a variety called "Purple Haze" was introduced into English supermarkets in the hope that children would find them fun to eat!
