Thanks for an interesting, informative post. You're right about baby carrots lack of 'carrot' taste. Any idea why that is? To me, baby carrots taste like an edible version of particle board--like they've been ground up, mixed with water and molded into pellet shape. But since they're just shaved down to two inches, why are they so bland?
Despite their lack of flavor, I, too, appreciate how baby carrots prevent waste from culls. You've hit on an interesting topic--uniformity. This form of waste happens with virtually all produce. Fruits and veggies that aren't uniform (too big, too small, wrong shape, etc.) are tossed. Some produce have for alternate uses, like canning or stewing or feeding animals. But others don't. Many types of produce that don't look just right aren't even harvested.
The practice of only using uniform produce isn't a good one, but it's based on presumed consumer demand. Maybe uniformity is what Americans want, given the abundance of restaurant chains. But if you don't want to see perfectly good produce tossed, tell that to your store's produce manager, shop at a farmer's market, or--even better--take home a fruit or veg. that's a little odd looking. As Andrea said, when you're just cutting up that fruit or vegetable, who cares if it looks a bit strange?
Thanks for the article. My husband and I switched back to "real" carrots awhile ago because we became convinced that baby carrots don't have much taste. It's a little more work to peel and shop, but worth the extra taste.
You should rename this article to "A Modest Proposal" as in ”I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled ...”
Well, I guess I AM brave enough. I just ordered them. The black ones were ugly, but not TOO ugly. However, only "Mud Pack" was in my size, and that is hideous. If they're comfortable, I'll wear them out... but not at the office.
I own & occupy half of a duplex, and I let my tenants use a portion of my garden for growing their own vegetables. Last year, I noticed that almost of all their veggies went unharvested - they fell to the ground & simply rotted away. At the time, I thought they were just being lazy about it, since most everything looked perfectly fine to me. When preparing this year's garden, I asked if they planned on planting again.
The response:
"Oh, I don't know. We didn't really get anything good last year - everything that grew was dirty and had bugs on it."
And it hit me - they had never seen actual garden vegetables before. Somehow, they think that the vegetables that they see in the supermarket magically just grow that way - dirt-free, bug-free, perfectly misted, with a nice wax polish. Stunning.
I'm sorry it's not working for you, Kristina. I'm not sure what to say. The page I linked to has them listed as roundtrip fares. My apologies that your hopes were dashed.
Spelling errors do detract, and for some reason "site" is one of those I can never get right. You should have seen the doozy that I had earlier today: I had "days" as "das".
Will, please remember to fire our editor, OK? Also, I'd like my trailer stocked with Fiji water.
I will not buy a tomato from the grocery store for the same reason. I bought one long ago that didn't look ripe to me so I left it out on the window sill. After at least a week of it not changing color I opened it up and the seeds had actually started sprouting. That's just not right, besides not having any flavor. I have seen "ugly tomatoes" in the grocery store now which are the heirloom variety. Those do have flavor and aren't overly genetically modified for looks.
I am staring guiltily at the baby carrots in my fridge now! =) They were on sale and were tagged "organic" (probably a huge marketing lie anyway). I sure would like to try these "purple carrots" people are discussing. Interesting .. . .
No, really - you seem to be able to write, but can you read? Because nothing, and I mean, NOTHING you said about my article is even close to true. I mean, it might be a worthless read (I'll let the readers be the judge of that), but nowhere did I advocate junk food consumption, wasting produce, or claim that baby carrots are evil. In fact, all I did was say that I like regular carrots better: they taste better, they are cheaper, and the don't involve any processing.
Why on earth would I want a better baby carrot product when I like regular carrots as they are?
I'm just wondering if maybe you read the intro and didn't realize that there was more to the article than the first paragraph?
And Carlos... lay off the fluroide. I hear it's no good for you.
While we always welcome criticism, I feel you are basing your criticism on a very selective and incomplete reading of the article.
Andrea said:
"As a frugal shopper, I advise everyone I know to go back to basic carrots."
I don't think anyone thought Andrea wanted people to go back to twinkies instead of carrots. And just because "baby" carrots are better than twinkies doesn't mean we can't criticize it for not being as good as actual carrots.
Having said that, we do appreciate your story suggestion regarding bottled water. I made Andrea write up that post just for you: here you go.
you can find it here . And continued here . And here. Maybe you should have double checked before trying to offer condescending suggestions to one of Wise Bread's best writers. She already beat you to the punch long ago.
Carlos, what a useless and bitter post. Instead of contributing positively to this discussion about consumerism, health and economics or posting about alternative snacks, you cry and moan about how "worthless" this article is are. I'll say it again: totally useless and bitter.
And since you're such a wonderful writer who had to point out that you were being sarcastic for most of the your post, I'm guessing you're the one who's not too great on picking up on tone. So, FYI, I'm mocking you and satirizing your incredibly bitter post.
We buy baby carrots all the time, as well as 'real' carrots ... we feed them to our dog as puppy treats and also take them in our lunches and eat them as snacks. I actually never wondered where 'baby' carrots came from ... which is kind of disturbing. I did have the experience of eating a bit of chopped carrot as I was making dinner, and I did notice that the flavour was better than the baby carrots I'd eaten for lunch. Maybe we'll try switching to just regular carrots for a while, since they are cheaper.
I like baby carrots, but they taste nothing like real carrots. By "real", I mean organic. Carrots in stores are bred for their looks and for how long they keep, not for taste. Organic carrots are much better.
I *love it*, it's true growing all your own food is great and nutritious and frugal.
I sincerely hope this article convinces more people that baby carrots are evil so they go back to eating twinkies and highly refined sugar products.
Then we have a win on many fronts!
- (the best) is disgusting fat people will get even fatter and select themselves out of the gene pool (yay! hotter chicks for the rest of us).
- hopefully then carrot farmers will go back to wasting carrots which are good cow food (even if they're organic) anyway, or better yet, they'll just switch to growing more corn for the increase demand in sugar.
YAY.
---
PS. all this was sarcastic. Thanks for inspiring paranoia in your readers and attacking one of the perhaps few positive technological trends in foods in the past 10 years. Why not attack bottled water instead? There's a trend that's actually pretty evil when examined from both energy-use and public-health perspectives (water. it's heavy and it ain't got flouride). Or perhaps why not mention that carrots like yours could make a better baby carrot product?
Oh wait, flouride's probably in your list of evils too? And the last one?
What a worthless read. Instead of contributing positively to perhaps improve the snacks, you cry woe and doom about how evil they are. I'll say it again: totally worthless.
I only buy carrots w/the green tops on them now, after having tried them a year back. The taste just can't be beat. Don't forget to trim all but 1" of the stem off once you get home though, since the leaves will pull moisture out of the carrot over time.
Is Paul Michael's attempt to make us believe these images are actual fairground people ripping people off. The people in these films are presenting a programme. Did they actually show real fairgorund people doing this? Don't think so.
When all is said and done, fairground people aren't in the business for the fun of it. They have to make a living. And if these games were as easy to win as Paul seems to think they should be, then there would be no funfairs, just as if the lottery was as easy to win as we all want it to be, London wouldn't be hosting the 2012 Olympics.
Give us a shout when you find a programme that exposes the shocking truth about gypsies stealing babies.
Thanks for an interesting, informative post. You're right about baby carrots lack of 'carrot' taste. Any idea why that is? To me, baby carrots taste like an edible version of particle board--like they've been ground up, mixed with water and molded into pellet shape. But since they're just shaved down to two inches, why are they so bland?
Despite their lack of flavor, I, too, appreciate how baby carrots prevent waste from culls. You've hit on an interesting topic--uniformity. This form of waste happens with virtually all produce. Fruits and veggies that aren't uniform (too big, too small, wrong shape, etc.) are tossed. Some produce have for alternate uses, like canning or stewing or feeding animals. But others don't. Many types of produce that don't look just right aren't even harvested.
The practice of only using uniform produce isn't a good one, but it's based on presumed consumer demand. Maybe uniformity is what Americans want, given the abundance of restaurant chains. But if you don't want to see perfectly good produce tossed, tell that to your store's produce manager, shop at a farmer's market, or--even better--take home a fruit or veg. that's a little odd looking. As Andrea said, when you're just cutting up that fruit or vegetable, who cares if it looks a bit strange?
Thanks for the article. My husband and I switched back to "real" carrots awhile ago because we became convinced that baby carrots don't have much taste. It's a little more work to peel and shop, but worth the extra taste.
I am no techy. BUt I will look into this and report back.
My guess is the sink, or the toilet.
You should rename this article to "A Modest Proposal" as in ”I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled ...”
http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html
If I didn't already having Keen kayaking sandals. :)
Well, I guess I AM brave enough. I just ordered them. The black ones were ugly, but not TOO ugly. However, only "Mud Pack" was in my size, and that is hideous. If they're comfortable, I'll wear them out... but not at the office.
And New Zealand?
You guys just made my week.
I own & occupy half of a duplex, and I let my tenants use a portion of my garden for growing their own vegetables. Last year, I noticed that almost of all their veggies went unharvested - they fell to the ground & simply rotted away. At the time, I thought they were just being lazy about it, since most everything looked perfectly fine to me. When preparing this year's garden, I asked if they planned on planting again.
The response:
"Oh, I don't know. We didn't really get anything good last year - everything that grew was dirty and had bugs on it."
And it hit me - they had never seen actual garden vegetables before. Somehow, they think that the vegetables that they see in the supermarket magically just grow that way - dirt-free, bug-free, perfectly misted, with a nice wax polish. Stunning.
I'm sorry it's not working for you, Kristina. I'm not sure what to say. The page I linked to has them listed as roundtrip fares. My apologies that your hopes were dashed.
Informative and fun post.
but the outside stayed the same? blargh, that is really scary!
Spelling errors do detract, and for some reason "site" is one of those I can never get right. You should have seen the doozy that I had earlier today: I had "days" as "das".
Will, please remember to fire our editor, OK? Also, I'd like my trailer stocked with Fiji water.
>> love at first site
It's "love at first sight".
Spelling errors really detract from a good, informative article.
I will not buy a tomato from the grocery store for the same reason. I bought one long ago that didn't look ripe to me so I left it out on the window sill. After at least a week of it not changing color I opened it up and the seeds had actually started sprouting. That's just not right, besides not having any flavor. I have seen "ugly tomatoes" in the grocery store now which are the heirloom variety. Those do have flavor and aren't overly genetically modified for looks.
Is missing the point of the article your definition of sarcastic?
(I'm pissed I spent this much time replying to an irrelevant comment.)
I am staring guiltily at the baby carrots in my fridge now! =) They were on sale and were tagged "organic" (probably a huge marketing lie anyway). I sure would like to try these "purple carrots" people are discussing. Interesting .. . .
No, really - you seem to be able to write, but can you read? Because nothing, and I mean, NOTHING you said about my article is even close to true. I mean, it might be a worthless read (I'll let the readers be the judge of that), but nowhere did I advocate junk food consumption, wasting produce, or claim that baby carrots are evil. In fact, all I did was say that I like regular carrots better: they taste better, they are cheaper, and the don't involve any processing.
Why on earth would I want a better baby carrot product when I like regular carrots as they are?
I'm just wondering if maybe you read the intro and didn't realize that there was more to the article than the first paragraph?
And Carlos... lay off the fluroide. I hear it's no good for you.
While we always welcome criticism, I feel you are basing your criticism on a very selective and incomplete reading of the article.
Andrea said:
"As a frugal shopper, I advise everyone I know to go back to basic carrots."
I don't think anyone thought Andrea wanted people to go back to twinkies instead of carrots. And just because "baby" carrots are better than twinkies doesn't mean we can't criticize it for not being as good as actual carrots.
Having said that, we do appreciate your story suggestion regarding bottled water. I made Andrea write up that post just for you: here you go.
you can find it here . And continued here . And here. Maybe you should have double checked before trying to offer condescending suggestions to one of Wise Bread's best writers. She already beat you to the punch long ago.
Carlos, what a useless and bitter post. Instead of contributing positively to this discussion about consumerism, health and economics or posting about alternative snacks, you cry and moan about how "worthless" this article is are. I'll say it again: totally useless and bitter.
And since you're such a wonderful writer who had to point out that you were being sarcastic for most of the your post, I'm guessing you're the one who's not too great on picking up on tone. So, FYI, I'm mocking you and satirizing your incredibly bitter post.
We buy baby carrots all the time, as well as 'real' carrots ... we feed them to our dog as puppy treats and also take them in our lunches and eat them as snacks. I actually never wondered where 'baby' carrots came from ... which is kind of disturbing. I did have the experience of eating a bit of chopped carrot as I was making dinner, and I did notice that the flavour was better than the baby carrots I'd eaten for lunch. Maybe we'll try switching to just regular carrots for a while, since they are cheaper.
I like baby carrots, but they taste nothing like real carrots. By "real", I mean organic. Carrots in stores are bred for their looks and for how long they keep, not for taste. Organic carrots are much better.
I *love it*, it's true growing all your own food is great and nutritious and frugal.
I sincerely hope this article convinces more people that baby carrots are evil so they go back to eating twinkies and highly refined sugar products.
Then we have a win on many fronts!
- (the best) is disgusting fat people will get even fatter and select themselves out of the gene pool (yay! hotter chicks for the rest of us).
- hopefully then carrot farmers will go back to wasting carrots which are good cow food (even if they're organic) anyway, or better yet, they'll just switch to growing more corn for the increase demand in sugar.
YAY.
---
PS. all this was sarcastic. Thanks for inspiring paranoia in your readers and attacking one of the perhaps few positive technological trends in foods in the past 10 years. Why not attack bottled water instead? There's a trend that's actually pretty evil when examined from both energy-use and public-health perspectives (water. it's heavy and it ain't got flouride). Or perhaps why not mention that carrots like yours could make a better baby carrot product?
Oh wait, flouride's probably in your list of evils too? And the last one?
What a worthless read. Instead of contributing positively to perhaps improve the snacks, you cry woe and doom about how evil they are. I'll say it again: totally worthless.
I only buy carrots w/the green tops on them now, after having tried them a year back. The taste just can't be beat. Don't forget to trim all but 1" of the stem off once you get home though, since the leaves will pull moisture out of the carrot over time.
Is Paul Michael's attempt to make us believe these images are actual fairground people ripping people off. The people in these films are presenting a programme. Did they actually show real fairgorund people doing this? Don't think so.
When all is said and done, fairground people aren't in the business for the fun of it. They have to make a living. And if these games were as easy to win as Paul seems to think they should be, then there would be no funfairs, just as if the lottery was as easy to win as we all want it to be, London wouldn't be hosting the 2012 Olympics.
Give us a shout when you find a programme that exposes the shocking truth about gypsies stealing babies.