The Myth Of Baby Carrots

Jeff Favelle November 17th, 2023

Nothing tastes quite like a fresh baby carrot out of your own garden. Sweetness that rivals even the juiciest strawberries, baby carrots are the candy of the vegetable world and a treat enjoyed both in the spring and the fall.

Sweet, freshly-picked baby carrots have to equal!

Those looking to replicate that taste from the grocery store may sadly, be disappointed. If your carrot harvests are all done for the year or you’re waiting for the next batch to be ready, there’s little you can do about it..

That’s because store bought baby carrots are a myth.

While they may look like baby carrots, store bought ones are most certainly not

Carrots are a root crop that take roughly 2-3 months, seed-to-harvest. But unlike a lot of our other crops, there’s no need for a carrot to ripen. Sure, they get bigger over the course of their life cycle, but even from pencil-thin diameter, carrots are completely edible.

More than that. They are downright BETTER as a baby carrot.

As soon as they turn color, carrots can be harvested at any time

Unfortunately, that taste ends at your own garden harvest, or maybe if you’re lucky, your local farmer’s market. That’s because in the early 1980’s, California carrot farmer Mike Yurosek had the brilliant idea to save all the odd, misshapen, broken adult carrots that weren’t marketable and shave them down to bite-sized pieces. These “baby” carrots sold like hotcakes and are now an industry staple.

But have you ever wondered why they aren’t as tasty as the ones from your garden?

Well, other than not being home-grown as well as actually being an adult carrot polished down, there’s a few other reasons as well.

Store-bought baby carrots taste NOTHING like their home-grown counterparts

Store bought baby carrots have had their skins removed to keep them as aesthetically-appealing as possible. Because of this, the carrots don’t keep. The start to go bad, FAST. Almost immediately from packaging, the race is on to get them before they get slimy. To combat this, albeit only temporarily, the carrots are treated to a chlorinated bath before packing and shipping. This limits the microbial growth and increases the shelf life.

Ewww….right?

With no skin for protection, store-bought baby carrots resort to other methods…

Being an older, tougher root crop with the skin removed and treated with chemicals, store bought baby carrots are no doubt going to taste different than what you grow at home. We all know that the stuff out of our own gardens tastes infinitely better than what we could eve buy at the store. With baby carrots, its not even close.

For a quick video look at the myth of store bought baby carrots, check out the video below!