Marsha, you may run into this (hope not)
When I first started growing carrots took a nice big bite with happy anticipation —tasted like SOAP !!! It has happened more than once.
Really awful. Ran to google and there it was —soapy flavor in carrots. A chemical called terpenoid (necessary in carrots)
causes the soapiness. I think when I read the reasons, mine might have been harvesting too early.
So maybe pay attention to when you planted and the supposed date of harvest so you know approximately when they are ready to harvest. But I am not that organized.
Best to try one (don’t pull a bunch) and dont think if it tastes bad (soapy) all is lost. Just wait longer to harvest.
https://www.thekitchn.com/this-is-why-s ... apy-222090

Article:
Variety susceptibility
Harvesting too early
Poor growing conditions
Storage
(Cooking gets rid of soapiness)

root_grow wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2019 12:45 pm My favorites so far are Koral, St Valery and those cute little Paris Market carrots. Most carrots taste bitter to me when raw, but these three are acceptable. They're also the only ones I enjoy cooked just by themselves.

St Valery. Now there's an OP carrot!

[mention]Tormato[/mention]
Must be some reason people have been growing it for well over 100 years! Wonder what it could be...

The soapy thing is good to know, so far we haven't encountered it, guess we've been lucky. The carrots are being supervised by one of our team members who is very experienced. But our carrots, while sweet, aren't super sweet like the store ones.

Tormato wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 1:37 pm

root_grow wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2019 12:45 pm My favorites so far are Koral, St Valery and those cute little Paris Market carrots. Most carrots taste bitter to me when raw, but these three are acceptable. They're also the only ones I enjoy cooked just by themselves.

St Valery. Now there's an OP carrot!

Who is your favorite seed source for them?

Pinetree, when they have it in stock.

Tormato wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2020 11:00 am Pinetree, when they have it in stock.

That's great. Thank you very much.

I found all three varieties mentioned, in stock, at Baker's Creek: https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/carrots

Looks like they are all OP, at least by BC's descriptions and reviews..

I've had a great carrot crop this Winter. My faves are Sugarsnax, Cream Pak, Purple Elite, Yellowbunch and Kyoto Pink

Bill

Ginger2778 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2020 6:19 am The soapy thing is good to know, so far we haven't encountered it, guess we've been lucky. The carrots are being supervised by one of our team members who is very experienced. But our carrots, while sweet, aren't super sweet like the store ones.

Marsha, why not try planting some of the store ones, allowing them to go seed and planting that and see what comes out of it. I realize that they maybe a hybrid, but then they maybe not....

As long as I can remember we have grown carrots here down under, would have been harder at Wantirna South, where I was born than at Hill End, where we moved to in late '74 due to the different soils. the main variety we have have grown is "All Seasons". They were at there best back in '83, on some new ground that had been paddock (often a night paddock for the milkers), soil there was rich black and with plenty of water and warmth (drought year, water out of a dam) everything went beserk. Biggest carrot was around 3 lb 14, carrots over 2 lb were the norm and were regularly cut into 4, taken to school and eaten on the bus coming home and were absolutely delicious. Anthing under a pound was plowed back into the soil at the end of the season

A 3 or 4 lb carrot? OMG!!!

Yeah, I cannot say exactly what it was about that season, just the combination of everything I think. Crown Prince pumpkins which normally top out at around 15lb went upto 33lb and Dad sold 1/2 a ton (literally) to a cousin who was on an orchard with onsite shop, massive potatos that big that they were hollow inside they had grown that fast that a family of five, Mum Dad and us three boys with hollow legs could not eat a whole one between us at Dinner, beans that produced like mad, 180lb went into the freezer alone, with what we ate plus gave away we would have picked well over 300lb off what was a normal planting for us when Dad opened the patch up for the cows...and on it went, no special varieties, just double the normal production off everything

One variety far and away surpasses all others in my experience. That variety is Cosmic Purple. It's very sweet but also is far more complex than any other carrot I've grown. As a nice bonus, it's very easy to grow compared to what I'm used to.

In terms of traditional orange carrots, I find that Tendersweet appropriately enough tastes great.

Touchon is an easy carrot. Pretty sweet. Tender.

My favorite was Black Nebula, but Longue Rouge Sang surpassed it. I have really good luck with carrots here so far and i have a few other varieties to try out this season. For reference, i like a strong carrot flavor. LRSis not as strong as black nebula but it has a sweetness to it that pushes it up.

It looks like I should list carrots next, in the MMMM non-tomato/pepper thread. Cukes (Quint went a bit overboard with that one) and melons are already listed.

My dog is a carrot hound. He eats 3-4 lbs of carrots a week. He loves frozen green beans, broccoli, cauli etc.

I got him a bag of the multi colored carrots at the market, his choice is purple, orange, white and yellow is always last.

I planted the Cosmic Purple and when they were ready for harvest he would sit down next to the patch side-eyeing me until I pulled one for him. He must clean it himself as he turns his nose up to the ones I rinse off. It is a good thing he can't pull them himself and he knows no digging in the gardens! Although he is allowed to pull cherry tomatoes as he's careful and loves them.

We like the cosmic purple the best as well!

I mix seed starter mix with the natural clay soil until it is light and fluffy, amend, and keep to even small frequent waterings for best results.

That is too funny @Pleepleus , given a bag of rainbow carrots my order of eating is the opposite of your dog's.
I've had purple carrot that was bitter, so on that alone I shy away from them until the rest are gone.

I have never gotten a bitter purple. I use them in my beef stew when the mutt isn't eyeballing me

Purple Sun is the only purple carrot I've tried. They pretty good roasted, tasted a bit like beetroot. They are purple all the way through and keep that colour after cooking.