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Baby Carrots
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The Origin and Evolution of Baby Carrots
The Cut & Peel story - White Blush scare - Chlorine Issue Watch a
video of how the process works and how baby carrots are "made". Some
statistics - Basic Process
Baby carrots first appeared in US supermarkets in the late 1980's.
There are two types - true baby carrots, and manufactured baby
carrots.
baby carrots versus ordinary carrots
Despite many consumers confusion as to their origins, these carrots
are now the single most popular form of the root vegetable sold in
the United States. They are a staple of party trays and crudite
plates and have upstaged carrot coins and other cuts as side
dishes. And yet baby carrots have been around since the 80's.
Baby carrots have become a lunch box staple. Parents love them for
their convenience and because they re seen as a healthy food choice.
Kids love them because they re sweet and fun to eat. But what s the
real deal behind baby carrots? After all, they re not like regular
carrots. They re perfectly shaped with rounded edges; they don t have
the same thick core; and, even peeled, they are bright orange. A
quick Google search of baby carrots turns up some frightening
information, and mis-information, on how they are made and whether
they are really soaked in chlorine.
Strictly "baby" means immature, pulled from the ground before they
reach full size. Originally that was the case, nowadays they have
developed miniature strains which are mature when small in stature!
Real baby carrots (miniature version of full size) are what they are,
about 3 or 4 inches in length. Baby "style" cut carrots (those
whittled down from larger carrots) started off by the "inventor" as
being approx 2 inches in the 1980's, and have remained so, more or
less, ever since.
USDA use weight to base its standards for nutrition etc - a small
baby carrot is deemed 10 grams, a medium one 15 grams.
Note that prior to the "invention" of baby cut carrots in the
1980's, engineer and inventor, Joseph T. Listner was early to
recognize the appeal and convenience of bagged, ready-to-eat
vegetables. In 1959, he designed and built a one-of-a-kind machine
that sliced raw carrots into sticks. The machine enabled a
small-scale producer like Listner, Inc., in Wallington, New Jersey,
to slice an estimated one million pounds of carrots in sixteen years
of operation. Listner sold his bagged carrot sticks and coleslaw to
stores, including the Grand Union supermarket chain. Grimmways Long
Imperator carrots to create baby carrots
The target which the main producers have is 4 babies from each long
carrot. The average length of the variety of carrot used (Imperator)
is now about 10 inches, so after "topping and tailing" they achieve
4, 2 inch babies. The whole process is governed by computers and
lasers and these machines decide on the optimum cut for each
individual carrot - yes! The growers and seed companies and
constantly working ion the development of longer varieties together
with the desire to have a cylindrical carrot of even circumference
all the way down. That would mean less shaving and scrubbing
required. Most of the goodness in carrots is in, or just below, the
skin.
Grimmway's say that their processing carrots are approximately 10 to
14 inches in length and these can be turned into 4 to 6 "baby"
carrots.
Photo (right) taken by Zach Wortiska, his Instagram handle
@Seed_Farm_Table?
Here is the Carrot Museum take on the Baby Carrot Story:
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True Baby Carrots
In the 1980's supermarkets expected carrots to be a particular
uniform size, shape, and colour. Anything else had to be sold for
juice or processing or animal feed, or just thrown away. One farmer
wondered what would happen if he peeled the skin off the gnarly
carrots, cut them into pieces, and sold them in bags. He made up a
few test batches to show his buyers. One batch, cut into 1-inch bites
and peeled round, he called "bunny balls." Another batch, peeled and
cutTrue Baby Carrots 2 inches long, looked like little baby carrots.
Bunny balls never made it. But baby carrots were a hit. They
transformed the whole industry.
A "true" baby carrot is a carrot grown to the "baby stage", which is
to say long before the root reaches its mature size. The test is can
you see a proper "shoulder" on each carrot. These immature roots are
preferred by some people out of the belief that they are superior
either in texture, nutrition or taste.
They are also sometimes harvested simply as the result of crop
thinning, but are also grown to this size as a specialty crop.
Certain cultivars of carrots have been bred to be used at the "baby"
stage. One such cultivar is 'Amsterdam Forcing'. You will see them
in the stores and are normally very expensive and displayed with some
of the green showing to "prove" they are a "real" carrot.
There are also commercial baby varieties often called Thumbelina, or
Paris Market, when grown to maturity are shaped like a golf ball.
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Manufactured Baby Cut Carrots (the most common)
Baby Cut Carrots were invented by Mike Yorusek (Read the full story
here.) Pictured right - Tired of the wastefulness he was seeing, Mike
Y[myuro]urosek whittled "babies" from grown-up cast off carrots.
Most baby carrots sold in U.S. and U.K. supermarkets are really what
the industry calls baby cuts made from longer carrots that have
been peeled and cut into a smaller size. These carrots have been
specifically bred to be smaller in diameter, coreless and sweeter
than regular carrots.
"Manufactured" baby carrots , or cut and peel, are what you see most
often in the shops. These are carrot shaped slices of peeled carrots
invented in the late 1980's by Mike Yurosek, a California farmer, as
a way of making use of carrots which are too twisted or knobbly for
sale as full-size carrots. Yurosek was unhappy at having to discard
as much as 400 tonnes of carrots a day because of their
imperfections, and looked for a way to reclaim what would otherwise
be a waste product. He was able to find an industrial green bean
cutter, which cut his carrots into 5 cm lengths, and by placing these
lengths into an industrial potato peeler, he created the baby
carrot.
The much decreased waste is also used either for juicing, carrot
powder or as animal fodder. Perhaps most important, the baby-cut
method allows growers to use far more of the carrot than they used
to. In the past, a third or more of a carrot crop could have been
easily tossed away, but baby-cut allows more partial carrots to be
used, and the peeling process actually removes less of the outer skin
that you might imagine. They are sold in single-serving packs with
ranch dressing for dipping on the side. They're passed out on
airplanes and sold in plastic containers designed to fit in a car's
cup holder. At Disney World, and MacDonald's burgers now come two
ways: with fries or baby carrots.
There is nothing "wrong" with manufactured baby carrots. They are a
food that humans have enjoyed for centuries, probably millennia,
chock-full of goodness that we need to keep our bodies functioning.
Mr Yurosek died in 2005. Read the full story here.
It also helped lift the industry out of a rut. In 1987, the year
after Yurosek's discovery, carrot consumption jumped by almost 30
percent, according to data from the USDA.
Today, baby cut carrots dominate the carrot industry. The packaged
orange snacks are now responsible for over 50% of all carrot sales.
A 2007 report by the USDA detailed many ways in which baby carrots
have morphed the entire carrot landscape in the United States. Baby
carrot products have been the fastest growing segment of the carrot
industry since the early 1990s and are among the most popular produce
items in the supermarket aisle more than potatoes and celery,
according to the report.
The development and rapid consumer acceptance of packaged fresh-cut
carrot products during the 1990s has helped the carrot industry
evolve from a supplier of low-value bulk products to marketer of
relatively upscale value added products ... fresh-cut carrot products
have been the fastest growing segment of the carrot industry since
the early 1990s. Within the $1.3 billion fresh-cut vegetable
category, carrots account for the largest share (about half) of
supermarket sales, followed distantly by potatoes, celery, and
others.
Yurosek eventually sold his company to Grimmway Farms, which along
with nearby Bolthouse Farms, now produces more than 85 percent of the
carrots eaten in the United States. The introduction of baby-cut
carrots into the market has increased consumption of the vegetable in
all its forms nearly 30 percent in twenty years. In 1986 the average
American consumer was eating around 5 pounds of carrots per year. The
current figure (2018) has levelled off at around 8.5 each.(54% of
this figure is baby carrots) (source)
The rapid rise in popularity of baby-cut carrots compelled carrot
producers to adapt quickly to meet market demand. The owners of
Grimmway began to build a processing facility to handle vast
quantities even before they actually saw the orders come in. Their
anticipation paid off; now occupying more than one million square
feet of space, their carrot processing plant is the largest
single-crop facility in the US.
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How a typical carrot is processed to maximise use for human
consumption
If you were to divide up a typical 8 and 1/2 inch carrot it would
typically be processed in such a manner that only about the very top
half inch goes to animal feed. This is at the crown end. The point
end quarter of the remaining carrot goes to making those tiny, baby
carrots. The central portions are processed either to make standard
cut or peel baby carrots or sent for juice making. The thickest
part goes off to be processed into juice concentrate to be further
sliced or diced into fresh pre-packs.
Diagrammatical Representation - (c) Photo Copyright World Carrot
Museum.
How a Carrot is processed - copyright World Carrot Museum
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Transformed to the core The baby-cut boom also transformed the
industry from its roots up. Before, growers were more interested in a
bulky carrot with more of a tapered shape. But those were hard to
chop into baby shape, so plant breeders worked to create varieties
that were longer and narrower, allowing a producer to get four cuts
instead of three on each carrot root, which is the part of the plant
we eat.
They also found they could limit the diameter size of carrots by
increasing the density with which they were planted a discovery
that helped them harvest more carrots per acre. (This sort of change
wasn t new for carrot growers: Up to the 1950s, when carrots were
sold with their leaves intact, they were bred for hearty leaf growth.
That stopped after grocers started selling just roots.)
Today s carrot is also now bred for uniform colour. Because the
cutting process exposes much of the root to the buyer s eye,
producers don t want their bags of carrots to be collared like a
paint palette. With baby carrots or cut-and-peel carrots, you can see
the core of every chunk,. The growers would like every carrot in that
bag to look like every other one. Growers also obsess about texture
and taste. You might find carrots far sweeter than they were in the
past, and that s intentional. Researchers found much of their appeal
as a snack came from their sweetness, especially for perennially
sweet-toothed kids, and bred them to have more natural sugar and less
of the harsh taste that comes if you do a poor job of peeling.
Today specific cultivars are grown to create the now ubiquitous baby
carrot. Farmers want a carrot that is about five-eighths inches in
diameter, 14 inches long that they can cut into four pieces to make
baby carrots.
In order to create thinner vegetables, baby carrots are planted
closer together than traditional carrots. In as little as 120 days
from planting, the carrots are dug up and trucked to the processing
house to be cut and peeled. But before packaging, all carrots receive
a brisk scrub accompanied by a wash in a chlorine (or organic
alternative) solution.
Grimmway Farms, whose labels include Cal-Organic, uses a chlorine
solution on all its carrots organic and non-organic -- to prevent
food poisoning, before a final wash in water. Grimmways say the
chlorine rinse is well within limits set by the EPA and is comparable
to levels found in tap water.
Ashley Bade, nutritionist and founder of Honest Mom Nutrition, says
the chlorine bath is a standard practice in many pre-cut food items.
The chlorine-water solution is a needed step in the process to limit
the risk of food-borne illnesses such as E.coli, she says.
The new varieties names reflect the change in growers needs: Prime
Cut, Sweet Cuts, Morecuts.
What is perhaps most important, the baby-cut method allows growers to
use far more of the carrot than they used to. In the past, a third or
more of a carrot crop could have been easily tossed away, but
baby-cut allows more partial carrots to be used, and the peeling
process actually removes less of the outer skin that you might
imagine - in part because growers, who are selling by weight, don t
want to take off more than they need to.
And what s left over after the initial processing can still be used
in even smaller products (e.g. baby food, soup, powder), or squeezed
for juice.
There is no doubt that baby carrots are a fun snack and are a great
way to introduce healthy foods into the often French fry, and fast
food driven diets of children and teenagers, because from the
snacking perspective, they are convenient and satisfying, for all
ages.
Read more here on the processes involved in the production of baby
carrots. "Where do baby carrots come from? Behind the scenes at a
baby carrot harvest."
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How the root has been transformed, through science
Carrots relatively recent growth in popularity as a snack food (in
large part due to marketing efforts by the big processors) has
spurred growers to produce a vegetable that is more palatable to
American consumers. Philipp Simon, a professor of horticulture at the
University of Wisconsin Madison, heads the USDA s Vegetable Crops
Research Unit on carrots. Although there are other carrot improvement
projects in the United States and other nations, he estimates that
his unit is the largest public-sector breeding effort in the world.
Because his research unit is the dominant project in this country,
the work done by Simon and his team influences nearly every carrot
eaten in the United States. Much of Simon s work focuses on improving
the flavour and palatability of carrots. American consumers prefer a
sweet, juicy carrot that bursts in the mouth rather than a bitter one
with a woody texture.
His unit has made significant progress in increasing sweetness and
reducing the harshness in flavour that many consumers dislike. They
are still working on improving the texture, as consumer preference
for a juicy carrot must be balanced with the grower s need to harvest
the roots mechanically. Carrots bred to be too juicy and
soft-textured may break apart as they are pulled from the soil, and
as Simon notes, if the grower can t get it to your plate, you re not
going to eat it.
The demands of the machinery used to process baby-cut carrots have
influenced carrot breeding as well. Different carrot breeds vary
widely in terms of size and shape. The Imperator variety is the long
tapered Bugs Bunny variety, as Simon calls it, while the Nantes
variety tends to be shaped more like a cigar, cylindrical and blunt
at the ends. To achieve the perfect carrot for feeding into the
machinery, traits from the Nantes are used to improve the Imperator
and make the carrot more amenable to mechanical slicing, peeling, and
polishing into uniform pieces.
According to Simon, the sweetest varieties of carrots have a sugar
content that is comparable to some melons. In fact, because the
glycemic index of carrots is relatively high, he cautions that people
who need to watch their sugar intake would be wise to count carrots
among the foods they monitor.
Another peculiar consequence that may follow from the
carrots-as-snack phenomenon is the introduction of carrots in colours
other than orange. The original wild carrot varieties were white and
contained none of the pigments that give the root the colour we re
used to seeing. Carrots have long been bred specifically for
orangeness, so the work by Simon and his team to develop red, purple,
and yellow varieties is not genetic modification but merely an
application of classical breeding techniques.
Both of the major California processors have expressed interest in
novel-colored varieties and the "rainbow packs" are ever increasing
in poularity. The pigments that make a carrot red or purple affect
their nutritional content as well. Just like a red tomato, a red
carrot contains lycopene, and a purple carrot contains antioxidants
of the same type found in dark chocolate and red wine. It is not
difficult to imagine "technicolour" carrots being marketed as
functional foods that provide nutrients in addition to the vitamin A
with which they are traditionally associated.
The Future
The story of the baby-cut carrot s success and popularity among
consumers tells the larger story of what is happening in the
supermarket produce section and in the home kitchen. The preparation
and labour that used to be done by home cooks is moving into enormous
factories and processing plants, while the raw ingredients many
people cook with are becoming less "raw."
To appeal to time-crunched home cooks, food magazines increasingly
publish features about assembling quick meals from prepared foods
rather than cooking from scratch. As the basic preparation of
ingredients continues to move from the kitchen into the processing
plant, it is not unreasonable to expect that in the near future a
common tool like a vegetable peeler may become a relic.
Baby carrots owe their success to many factors that are already
shaping both the infrastructure and the contents of the supermarket
produce section. One factor in the popularity of baby carrots is the
fact that consumers are clearly willing to pay a premium for
convenience, and fresh-produce suppliers are glad to peel, chop,
segment, or julienne their raw product if it will boost their profit
margins.
The margins on fresh food have traditionally been lower than those
for processed food, as the latter is considered "value-added" and
carries a higher retail price. Retailers and suppliers will likely
embrace adding value to (i.e., preparing) any and all fresh produce
if it means they can charge more for it.
Another factor in the success of baby carrots is that for millennia
humans have been selectively breeding for desirable traits in crops
and animals, and we re only getting better at it. Our ability to
sweeten a carrot, alter its shape to accommodate a machine, change
the colour of its skin and flesh, and give a root vegetable the
texture of a crisp apple hints at the directions our foods may go in
millennia to come. Finally, one of the most important factors in the
success of these tiny vegetables is branding.
A brand is a powerful selling tool that will no longer be confined to
cereal boxes and other packaged foods. Many researchers have pointed
to branding as a potentially positive force to encourage children to
make healthier food choices. If food companies can apply the same
marketing strategies (and budgets!) to selling fresh produce as they
do to selling processed and convenience foods, the power of the media
may be able to turn our appetites to the benefit of our health.
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The Basic Process:
To make "baby-cuts," large carrots are machine cut into 2-inch
sections, then abraded (scraped) down to size, their ends rounded by
the same process:
In the field, two-storey carrot harvesters use long metal prongs to
open up the soil, while rubber belts grab the green tops and pull.
The carrots ride up the belts to the top of the picker, where an
automated cutter snips off the greens.
They are trucked to the processing plant, where they are put in icy
water to bring their temperature down to 3 degC (37 degrees Fahrenheit)
to inhibit spoiling.
They are sorted by thickness. Thin carrots continue on the processing
line; the others will be used as whole carrots, juice, or cattle
feed. An inspector looks for rocks, debris or malformed carrots that
slip through.
The carrots are shaped into 2-inch pieces by automated cutters. An
optical sorter discards any piece that has green on it.
The pieces are pumped through pipes to the peeling tanks. The peelers
rotate, scraping the skin off the carrots. There are two stages: an
initial rough peel and then a final "polishing."
To reduce microbial contamination, "baby-cut" carrots may be treated
with small amounts of a weak chlorine solution. Those that are will
be subsequently rinsed with potable water to remove the excess
chlorine before being packaged. According to the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency, the use of a weak chlorine solution as an
antimicrobial treatment (similar to the chlorination of drinking
water) is a current accepted practice in the processing for all
fresh-cut ready-to-eat vegetables.
The carrots are weighed and bagged by an automated scale and
packager, then placed in cold storage until they are shipped.
The white blush sometimes visible on the surface of "baby-cut"
carrots is caused by dehydration of the cut surface. "Baby-cut"
carrots are more prone to develop this because their entire surface
area is a cut surface. Low-temperature, high-humidity storage can
minimize the white appearance.
Of course mis-shapen carrots are good for a cheeky joke - for
example:
joke - how baby carrots are made
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Vanmark Equipment LLC is one of the world's leading manufacturers of
carrot processing equipment. Millions of pounds of carrots processed
in the United States go through Vanmark s peelers/washers before
making their way to consumers. Vanmark makes equipment for cleaning
and polishing carrots of all sizes as well as processing and shaping
product sold as baby carrots. Our equipment can use a two part
process to first remove material from full size cut carrots and then
shape and smooth the pieces into a rounded, distinctive baby carrot
shape. (Source Vanmark equipment website)
What happens to the left over pieces of carrots?
The 0.84 % left over mainly goes to animal feed, though I also know
of some, where it can go to juice and for pulping into baby foods/
soups etc. There seems to be two attitudes - 1. it is "waste" (for
animal feed). 2. It has a commercial value and is passed on to the
food processing industry.
The problem is that the cutting down/shaving process is designed to
do just that, it is rarely commercially viable to ensure the shavings
are collected effectively to remain clean and safe to pass on to the
food industry. It's ok for animals!.
Because it is not a consistent left over, in terms of size, the
cuttings do not go to salads or other fresh products. The carrot cake
producers buy shredded carrot made from whole big carrots as it
easier to process that way and you get more for your money.
The "waste" is becoming less and less as the machines get more
efficient. For example many of the modern computer/laser guided
machines can make 3 babies out of one carrot.
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Some Statistics:
[pointer4] In the US over 172 million tonnes of carrots are
processed into baby peeled carrots.
[pointer4] In the US baby peeled carrots sales exceed US$400 million
per annum.
[pointer4] Overall carrot consumption in the US has increased by 33%
through the introduction of baby peeled carrots.
[pointer4] In the US annual consumer spending on baby peeled carrots
exceeds US$2.00 per head.
[pointer4] In 1999 baby peeled carrot purchases passed whole
carrots. 94% of US consumers purchased baby peeled carrots
[pointer4] 90% had bought whole carrots. Purchases of baby peeled
carrots were even ahead of fresh salad mixes.
[pointer4] Baby peeled carrots have the lion's share of the carrot
category accounting for over 80% of all retail carrot
sales.
[pointer4] Up until 2000 baby carrots have dominated US produce
department's with excellent growth ahead of all other
produce items.
From Field to Supermarket Shelf
[pointer3] In the field, two-storey carrot harvesters use long metal
prongs to open up the soil, while rubber belts grab the
green tops and pull.
[pointer3] The carrots ride up the belts to the top of the picker,
where an automated cutter snips off the greens.
[pointer3] They're trucked to the processing plant, where they're
put in icy water to bring their temperature down to 37
degrees to inhibit spoiling.
[pointer3] They are sorted by thickness.
[pointer3] Thin carrots continue on the processing line; the others
will be used as whole carrots, juice or cattle feed.
[pointer3] An inspector looks for rocks, debris or malformed carrots
that slip through.
[pointer3] The carrots are shaped into 2-inch pieces by automated
cutters.
[pointer3] An optical sorter discards any piece that has green on
it.
[pointer3] The pieces are pumped through pipes to the peeling tanks.
[pointer3] The peelers rotate, scraping the skin off the carrots.
[pointer3] The carrots are weighed and bagged by an automated scale
and packager.
[pointer3] Finally placed in cold storage until they are shipped.
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People sometimes find that baby carrots turn slimy in the fridge,
very soon after storage. They are going off due to poor storage
conditions, post harvest. If you eat them you run the risk of food
poisoning (usually from ecoli or salmonella bacteria). It happens to
baby carrots more than normal carrots because of the additional
processing involved. Baby cut carrots are made from longer carrots.
The skin is taken off and then longer carrots are cut into smaller
"baby" carrots. The skin (as in humans!) is there for a reason, a
protective layer. These baby carrots are then washed in a chlorine
solution before a final wash in potable water. This process is an
attempt to ward off early degradation of the baby carrots.
Most carrots are kept and processed in near freezing conditions and
once they leave the packing plants experience warmer temperatures
which encourage bacterial growth. Storage conditions in
supermarkets is far from ideal, in many cases.In the case of slimy
carrots (baby or otherwise) one has to err on the side of caution and
throw them away.
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Here is the full story of the popular Baby Cut & Peel carrot:
It all began in the mid 80's ago when Mike Yurosek of Newhall,
California got tired of seeing 400 tons of carrots a day drop down
the cull chute at his packing plant in Bakersfield. Culls are carrots
that are too twisted, knobbly, bent or broken to sell. In some loads,
as many as 70% of carrots were tossed. Yurosek tried to be
resourceful. He used some of his cull as animal slop, but his farm
was so big and he had so much waste -- 400 tons a day -- that his
pigs fat turned orange. He went on this way for decades, enduring
the daily tragedy of the cull, and dreaming of a better world.
Yurosek had always been a "think outside the carrot patch" guy. In
the 1960s, Yurosek and Sons was selling bolthouse baby cut carrot bag
carrots in plastic bags with a Bunny-Luv logo, a cartoon that got the
farmers in trouble with Warner Bros., which was protective of its
Bugs Bunny brand. Instead of bringing in lawyers and spending a
fortune, Yurosek recalls, "I said to my wife who is a pretty good
drawer, 'Hey, draw me up about 50 bunnies, would you? Then we'll
send them to Warner Bros. and ask them to tell us which ones we can
use.' "
The entertainment giant picked one, and Bunny-Luv lived on for the
price of a pencil. The farmer continued growing carrots, and throwing
them out, for decades. But in 1986, Yurosek had the idea that would
change American munching habits. California's Central Valley is
dotted with farms, fruit and vegetable processors, and freezing
plants. Yurosek knew full well that freezers routinely cut up his
long, well-shaped carrots into cubes, coins and mini-carrots. "If
they can do that, why can't we, and pack 'em fresh?" he wondered.
First he had to cut the culls into something small enough to make use
of their straight parts. The first batch was done in a potato peeler
and cut by hand. Then he found a frozen-food company that was going
out of business and bought an industrial green-bean cutter, which
just happened to cut things into 2-inch pieces. Thus was born the
standard size for a baby carrot.
Next, he sent one of his workers to a packing plant and loaded the
cut-up carrots into an industrial potato peeler to take off the peel
and smooth down the edges. What he ended up with was a little rough
but still recognizable as the baby carrot of today.
After a bit of practice and an investment in some bagging machinery,
he called one of his best customers, a Vons supermarket in Los
Angeles. "I said, 'I'm sending you some carrots to see what you
think.' Next day they called and said, 'We only want those.'
The babies were an economic powerhouse. Stores paid 10 cents a bag
for whole carrots and sold them for 17 cents. They paid 50 cents for
a 1-pound package of baby carrots and sold them for $1. By 1989, more
markets were on board, and the baby-carrot juggernaut had begun.
Today, these "babies" come from one main place in the US:
Bakersfield, California. The state produces almost three-grimmways
carrot bags imagesquarters of U.S. carrots because of its favourable
climate and deep, not-too-heavy soil. Every day, somewhere in the
state, carrots are either being planted or harvested (20 million
pounds in 2006).
Which is why Bakersfield is home to the nation's top two carrot
processors: Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms. In the early 1990s,
Yurosek sold his company to rival Grimmway. The Bunny-Luv logo still
can be found on Grimmway's organic carrots. But it's Bakersfield's
other carrot producer, Bolthouse, that carries on the Yurosek
tradition. Yurosek's grandson Derek is Bolthouse's director of
agricultural operations.
The Industry calls them "Minis" and have brought about a
carrot-breeding revolution, says the USDA's Phillip Simon, who also
teaches horticulture at the University of Wisconsin. Carrots
originally were sold in bulk, straight from the farm. The first
advance was the "cello" carrot. Introduced in the 1950s, these were
washed and sold in newfangled (at the time) cellophane bags. "Cello
carrots had to look like a carrot, and that was enough," Simon says.
Enter the baby carrot. Suddenly carrots were "branded." Instead of
just carrots, they were Bunny-Luv or Bolthouse or Grimmway carrots.
Consumers could remember the name, and if they got a bad carrot, they
wouldn't buy that particular brand any more. Breeders got to work,
getting rid of woodiness and bitterness. They also bred for enhanced
length, smoothness and a cylindrical quality that lets processors
clip off as little of the tip as possible. Balancing these with the
desirable sweetness and juiciness is a delicate task, Simon says. The
faintly bitter taste is essential to what makes a carrot taste like a
carrot. "I've had carrots that have more of a flavour note of peas or
corn," he says.
Get the carrot too juicy and it breaks in the field. "There are some
carrot varieties so succulent they're amazing, but they're like
glass," Simon says. "Consumers like juicy carrots, but if they're all
broken, you can't sell them." None of this was done with fancy
genetic engineering. "You just grow lots of carrots and look at them
and taste them," Simon says. Breeders started experimenting with seed
from varieties culled in the past for being too long to fit into the
plastic bag.
"Prior to baby carrots, the ideal length for a carrot was somewhere
between 6 and 7 inches," Simon says. Now they're typically 8 inches
long, a "three-cut" that can make three 2-inch babies. And breeders
are edging toward fields of even longer carrots. "You make it a
four-cut, and you've got a 33% yield increase," Simon says.
The baby-cut boom transformed the industry from its roots up. Before,
growers were more interested in a bulky carrot with more of a tapered
shape. But those were hard to chop into baby shape, so plant breeders
worked to create varieties that were longer and narrower, allowing a
producer to get four cuts instead of three on each carrot root, which
is the part of the plant we eat. They also found they could limit the
diameter size of carrots by increasing the density with which they
were planted a discovery that helped them harvest more carrots per
acre.
Mr Yurosek is often referred to as the "Father of Baby Carrots". By
simply cutting carrots into 2-inch sections, he won a well-earned
place in agricultural history. Equally deserved is his legacy in
business lore. Yurosek transformed an industry by addressing a common
problem. Whereas most growers focused their energies on production
excellence, Yurosek addressed another ingredient required for
success: customer relevance. Sadly he died of cancer in 2005.
bolthouse carrot bag - bolthouse carrot bag - bolthouse carrot bag -
matchstix chips petites
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The Baby Carrot industry has been successfully rejuvenated in 2010 by
the introduction of "Eat'em Like Junk Food" campaign, following the
recent trend of fast food outlets trying to gain new customers by
extolling the virtues of the healthiness of their offerings. Read
more here.
Here's what Grimmways say about their baby carrots -
Are baby carrots grown to be so small, or are they just regular
carrots that have been cut to size?
Baby carrots begin as full-size, long and slender carrots. The
variety that we use for our fresh, peeled baby carrots is a
hybrid that combines the best qualities of more than 250 known
commercial carrot varieties. Because taste is very important to
us, we allow the carrot to grow almost to its full maturity
before harvesting. Prior to selecting which carrots will become
baby carrots, we eliminate any that are greater than 7/8-inch in
diameter. The smaller carrots are then cut into two- inch pieces,
peeled, polished and packaged. We use no food additives or
preservatives in this process.
What is the shelf life of your peeled baby carrots?
If the carrots are stored at 33 to 40 degrees, they should
maintain fresh for four to five weeks.
What causes the white coating on carrots?
Dehydration causes a white coating on carrots. When carrots are
peeled, they lose some of their natural moisture barrier, begin
to dehydrate and may eventually develop a white color on the
carrot surface. We use no chemicals or additives that would cause
the white surface. Often, you can restore that just-picked
color and freshness by soaking the carrots in a bowl of ice water
for a few minutes before serving.
How are peeled baby carrots processed?
We create our fresh, peeled baby carrots by first cutting the
carrots into two- inch segments. After inspection and grading for
defects and size, the carrots are peeled and polished. This
mechanical process uses no chemicals, food additives or
preservatives.
The carrots are then washed in water that is treated with a small
amount of chlorine, then soaked and rinsed with potable water
before being packaged. Baby carrots, like bagged salad mixes and
other ready to eat fresh vegetables, are rinsed in this diluted
chlorine solution to inhibit bacterial growth that naturally
occurs in water. Carrots are then hydro-cooled to 34 degrees.
Just prior to packaging, we inject less than half-an-ounce of
water into the bag to help keep the carrots moist.
Can I freeze the carrots?
We don t recommend freezing them. If you do, blanch the carrots
first. Otherwise, they will turn mushy when they are thawed.
Can I use the carrots after the best if used by date?
We don t recommend it. If the carrots are still firm and crisp,
you can use them for up to two weeks after the date on the bag.
However, if they have become slimy, mushy, black, or have an off
odor, you should not use the carrots.
Do you use any GMO s?
We do not use any genetically modified organisms.
Do I need to wash and peel the carrots?
The specialty cut carrots (baby, chips, shredded, etc.) are
pre-washed and ready-to-eat directly from the bag. We do
recommend that you wash whole carrots. Peeling is personal
preference.
Where are Grimmway carrots grown?
Most of our carrots are grown in California. However, we do have
some fields in Colorado.
What is the difference between organic and conventional carrots?
Organic carrots are grown without the use of synthetic
pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. In addition, organic
fields must be free from the use of synthetic pesticides,
herbicides or fertilizers for three years before being considered
organic. Certification includes inspections of farm fields and
processing facilities, detailed record keeping, and periodic
testing of soil and water to ensure that growers and handlers are
meeting the standards that have been set by certifying agencies.
- See more at: http://www.grimmway.com/carrots/our-process/
ask-the-farmer/#sthash.HHMcqyJA.dpuf
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Why is one little carrot so important?
Some children refuse to eat vegetables and many won t touch a carrot
unless it can be used as a sword during playtime. Sometimes it can
feel like it s just not worth the bother to try and feed them
vegetables at every meal. But according to the World Health
Organization, eating vegetables like carrots can help prevent
blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency.
organic carrots bagVitamin A deficiency partially or totally blinds
nearly 350,000 children from more than 75 countries every year.
Roughly 60 percent of these children die within months of going
blind. However, vitamin A deficiency is preventable. One cooked
carrot has approximately 150% of the Recommended Daily Amount of
beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A. Vitamin A helps to
prevent night blindness, dry skin, poor bone growth, weak tooth
enamel, diarrhoea and slow growth.
The greatest health benefits come from eating a wide variety of
fruits and vegetables. The American Institute for Cancer Research has
estimated that a diet high in a variety of fruits and vegetables may
prevent 20 to 33 percent of lung cancers.
The carotenoids found in greens, broccoli and spinach may help
protect against other cancers. Eating 5 servings of fruits and
vegetables supplies a whole range of nutrients, which provide the
kind of protection originally attributed to betacarotene alone.
Unfortunately, most children are not interested in cancer and disease
prevention so it is parents who have to resort to sneaking nutrition
in the foods kids love. And the Baby Carrot plays it part.
Over 40 brands are sold, marketed under such names as Premier and
Bunny-Luv, and more modern names to reflect what the consumer wants,
like Prime Cut, Sweet Cuts and Morecuts. The market now also covers
things such as baby-cut but also sticks, chips, dipping packages,
shredded carrots and juice.
The Future
Researchers are always looking for ways to spice up the carrot.
Producers want to darken the colour of carrots, not just for
aesthetics but also because the deeper orange signals more
beta-carotene, an antioxidant that serves as one of the best sources
of vitamin A, for which carrots are renowned. Scientists are pushing
has pushed the colour curve - producing white, red and purple carrots
that are actually the colours of the roots were originally grown
1,000 years ago. The rainbow colours give growers still more
marketing options - especially for kids, who seem drawn to items that
look like someone was having fun with crayons - and could even be
mixed together in a variety pack. Look for a Rainbow Pack at a store
near you!
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Eat 'em Like Junk Food Campaign
In 2009, after a decade of steady growth, Bolthouse's carrot sales
went flat. Sales of baby carrots, the company's cash carrot, actually
fell, sharply, and stayed down. Nobody knew why. This was a big
problem. After a series of focus groups and surveys something
interesting was discovered. People said they were eating as many
carrots as they always had. But the numbers clearly showed they were
buying fewer. What people meant, it turned out, was they were as
likely as ever to keep carrots in the fridge. When the recession hit,
though, they became more likely to buy regular carrots, instead of
baby carrots, to save money. But people used to eating baby carrots
weren't taking the time to wash and cut the regular ones. And unlike
baby carrots, which dry out pretty quickly once a bag is opened,
regular carrots keep a long time. So people were buying regular
carrots and then not eating them, and not buying more until the
carrots they had were finally gone or spoiled.
eat them like junk food baby carrot campaign
Bolthouse had never marketed its baby carrots. It just sent
truckloads to supermarkets, where they got piled up in the produce
aisle. A new advertising campaign was needed.
The concept was "To have a great advertising idea, you have to get at
the truth of the product. The truth about baby carrots is they
possess many of the defining characteristics of our favourite junk
food. They're neon orange, they're crunchy, they're dippable, they're
kind of addictive - They're just cool and part of your life. If
Doritos can sell cheeseburger-flavoured Doritos, we can sell baby
carrots." A new jazzy packaging portfolio was created, aimed
primarily at junk food addicts and it soon became a roaring success.
(The above information is taken from a more detailed piece by Douglas
McGray writing for the Fast Company - read the full article )
$25m campaign to Get Kids to Eat Carrots by branding them like junk
food - According to USA Today, a group of producers will unveil a
sophisticated media campaign designed to drive a wedge between the
munching public and our snack foods, a wedge in the shape of a
carrot. This campaign will include repackaging carrots for school
vending machines in bags that resemble Doritos (both orange,
little-finger size, crunchy, so consumers probably won't even notice
the difference, right?) (Left, Halloween "Scarrots" 2010).
[scarrots1] vending machine baby carrot
bags
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A few words of warning, and the viable alternatives - Citrox and O3
Baby carrots are not as nutritious as full whole carrots, because a
lot of the goodness in carrots is contained in the skin and just
below it. This is removed in the baby carrot making process.
After harvesting, the carrots are mainly washed in chlorinated water,
just like our drinking water, and cleanBaby Carrots Vending Machine
2010ed to remove dirt and mud. Some finished baby carrots are washed,
or dipped, by a further chlorine solution to prevent white blushing
once in the store. There is no evidence that this is harmful, but it
is worth knowing about!. The truth is that baby carrots are no
different from packaged lettuce or any other prepared produce -- like
bagged lettuce you find in the grocery store.
However organic growers use a citrus based non toxic solution called
Citrox (The ProGarda ), the natural alternative to synthetic biocides
for the decontamination of fresh produce, food and beverages. Citrox
technology incorporates a truly holistic approach designed to
increase the effectiveness and profitability of food and beverage
production processes. A brief overview of this product here.
All Citrox products are made from natural extracts or naturally
derived compounds. Some of them are permitted for use in organic
production (e.g.: fruit & vegetable decontaminant) or certified
organic (e.g.: pre-harvest treatment products). All the Citrox
derivatives are completely non-toxic, non-carcinogenic,
non-corrosive, and non-tainting in use. They can actually be added to
foodstuffs. They are formed by the bioflavonoid extracts and a range
of completely natural organic acids, this combination having highly
synergistic effects in all their many applications. The ProGarda
decontaminant range has been specifically formulated for the
decontamination of fruits and vegetables. These products are viable
alternatives to the use of chlorine (or other compounds or systems)
for decontaminating fresh fruits and vegetables.
O3 - another "safe wash" product.
https://www.ozonetech.com/ They use a product called O3. One Polish
farmer, In respect of carrots, said that after the washing and
peeling is done, you can spray the produce with the O3, to get rid of
any bacteria or pests. The great thing about this is that it's 100
percent natural. A brief overview of the O3 product here.
Ozone (O3) is an unstable and highly reactive form of oxygen due to
its extra oxygen molecule. It naturally tends to seek its normal,
stable state, and in the process works extremely quickly destroy
micro-organisms and disinfect food products and surfaces that may
otherwise lead to food poisoning and illnesses. Ozone readily
decomposes into oxygen and leaves no harmful residues, by-products,
tastes, or odours, and thus does not require a final rinse. It is US
FDA approved for direct food contact and is the most effective and
safest disinfectant available. More information here - Biotek Ozone -
a division of BES Group www.besgroups.com
References
Review paper - Trends in Biosciences 8(16), Print : ISSN 0974-8,
4031-4047, 2015 Ozone Technology in Food Processing: A Review Vithu
Praba et al)
Study - Effects of ozone treatment on postharvest carrot quality,
Lauana Pellanda de Souza et al (here) Science Direct LWT - Food
Science and Technology, Available online 5 December 2017 - Volume
90, April 2018, Pages 53-60
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According to Randy Worobo, an associate professor of food
microbiology at Cornell University, you need not worry. As reported
in Prevention magazine, he says carrots are not preserved in bleach
but rinsed in a chlorine wash that's recommended by the FDA to kill
bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli. Most pre-cut produce,
including frozen vegetables and fruit salad, is washed with this or
similar sanitizers.
Baby Cut and Peeled Carrots are treated with chlorine. It is used
as an anti-microbial treatment to control potential contamination in
the finished product. Carrots that are treated with chlorine are
subsequently soaked and rinsed with potable water to remove the
excess chlorine before being packaged.
Sanitizers that can be used to wash or to assist in lye peeling of
fruits and vegetables are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration in accordance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic
Act as outlined in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Ch. 1,
Section 173.315.
Chlorine is routinely used as a sanitizer in wash, spray, and flume
waters used in the fresh fruit and vegetable industry. Anti-microbial
activity depends on the amount of free available chlorine (as
hypochlorous acid) in water that comes in contact with microbial
cells. The effectiveness of chlorine in killing pathogenic micro
organisms has been extensively studied."
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More on the Chlorine scare
What about the chlorine? Some carrots are washed with chlorinated
water. This water must have a pH (acidity) between 6.0 and 7.0. The
concentration of chlorine in the water should be between 100 and 150
ppm (parts per million). The time of contact between the carrots and
the chlorinated water should not exceed 5 minutes. This must be
removed from the carrots by rinsing with potable water or using a
centrifugal drier. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,
the use of chlorine as a antimicrobial treatment is a current
accepted practice in the processing for all fresh cut ready-to-eat
vegetables.
This Chlorine is most likely sodium hypochlorite also known as
chlorine bleach. It is used as a disinfectant and antimicrobial in
many industries. It is made by reacting a sodium hydroxide solution
(also know as caustic soda or lye) with elemental chlorine gas. All
of these chemicals are made from sodium chloride, also known as salt.
Next time do some research look up cholera if you want a glimpse of
what the world was like before the wide availability of chlorine
disinfection!
Like other ready-to-eat fresh vegetables, baby-cut carrots are rinsed
or sprayed with very diluted chlorine to reduce the risk of bacterial
contamination, and then thoroughly washed and bagged. This process is
approved by the FDA and accepted by the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency, with strict rules for what concentration of chlorine can be
used and how long the carrots can be exposed. Chlorine is similarly
used as a disinfectant in public water supplies and sometimes in
poultry processing. It is toxic at high concentrations, but there is
no evidence that trace amounts left on food and in water are harmful
to health.
Is this dangerous? Chlorination is a well-known and well-tested way
to disinfect food products. Our tap water is chlorinated as well.
When you disinfect something, that means that you kill the bacteria
that are present. Chlorine kills bacteria. It can also kill us, or be
very bad for us. The bleach you use to clean and disinfect your
toilet, contains chlorine. Do not drink it. This will kill you
because it is far more concentrated than we can safely ingest. The
diluted chlorine in your tap water and in your baby-carrots, presents
no proven danger whatsoever. It is precisely to make the carrots safe
that the chlorine is used.
As a side-note, it is interesting to know that the term "chlorine" is
something of a misnomer. Chlorine, in its natural state, is a highly
reactive gas that forms compounds with other products. When chlorine
is added to other products, it will react virtually immediately to
form compounds such as hypochlorous acid (when chlorine is added to
water) and sodium hypochlorite (when chlorine is added to a sodium
hydroxide solution). These compounds in turn disinfect the water.
When we talk about chlorine, and even about free chlorine, these
compounds are usually what we are referring to.
Note: there are certain compounds of chlorine that do cause cancer.
Does chlorine cause cancer? No. While medical science is not an exact
science, and we must always be vigilant, there is at present no
evidence whatsoever that chlorine causes cancer or could be a
facilitator for cancer. The Department of Health and Human Services
(DHHS) the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have not classified
chlorine as to its human carcinogenicity.
The solution used to wash carrots is NOT the same as in swimming
pools.
More on White Blush
It is caused by drying of the damaged (peeled) tissue as the carrots
are exposed to air. During storage air can dry out the surface of
carrots due to lack of humidity. The carrots may also shrivel due to
the lack of moisture. In contrast, whole carrots retain their
protective peel, so it takes longer for this problem to occur in
them.
It is simply the carrot drying out. Try it out for yourself. Take a
fresh, normal carrot and cut it in half. Wait. The same white
covering (which is officially called white blush) will appear on the
cut. Baby carrots will show a lot more white blush for a very simple
reason: their skin has been removed and therefore, the entire carrot
dries out. Methods of inhibiting the formation of white blush
discoloration on freshly processed carrots.
When many fruits (i.e., apples, pears, peaches, avocados, and
bananas) and vegetables (i.e., beans, potatoes, mushrooms and many
root crops) are bruised, or are cut, peeled, or processed in any
other way that causes tissue injury, a black or brown discoloration
appears at the site of the tissue injury within a few minutes due to
enzymes of the melanosis reaction. This discoloration problem has
been the subject of much study, because of its obvious economic
importance to the food processing industry.
Unlike other fruit and vegetables as detailed above, carrots do not
develop black or brown discolorations after suffering tissue injuries
due to enzymes of the melanosis reaction. Consequently, the carrot is
an ideal vegetable to process shortly after harvest into a form that
is ready for consumption. Of the estimated 3 billion pounds of
carrots that are marketed in the United States each year,
approximately 20% are peeled soon after harvest to be sold as fresh
miniature carrots, carrot sticks, carrot coins, carrot shreds, and
other forms of fresh processed carrots.
Whole, unprocessed carrots may be stored under refrigeration for many
weeks without significantly deteriorating. However, freshly processed
carrots that have been in refrigerated storage for just a few days
begin to develop a whitish, chalk-like appearance on their abraded
surfaces. In the carrot processing industry, this whitish, chalk-like
appearance is known as "white blush."
The rate at which white blush appears on processed carrots is a
function of the physiological condition of the whole carrots prior to
processing, the degree of abrasiveness that was present in the
processing, the chemical treatments that were applied to the carrots,
if any, and the humidity levels and the temperatures at which the
carrots have been stored. For example, variations in the physiology
of the whole, unprocessed carrots caused by different degrees of
environmental stresses during the growing period, such as heat stress
and drought stress, will result in variations in the onset of white
blush formation under given storage conditions. Carrots that were
grown in poorly irrigated fields tend to form white blush
discoloration more rapidly, than do processed carrots that were grown
in well irrigated fields.
White blush discolourisation is unsightly and unappetizing. As a
result, consumers invariably associate white blush with distastefully
old carrots, even though the taste and nutritional value of processed
carrots are not affected by the appearance of white blush. This fact
leads to significant commercial waste when processed carrots are
pulled from the shelf due to the appearance of white blush even
though taste and nutrition are not being effected.
To date, white blush has been controlled primarily by washing freshly
processed carrots with chilled water, usually in a hydro cooler,
followed by refrigeration and/or by packaging of the freshly
processed carrots in specialised containers, including some that
maintain modified atmospheres within the containers. Chlorine has
also been added to the chilled water treatments for sanitation
purposes, and primarily to control microbial bacteria growth on the
processed carrots. However, depending upon the above variables, the
onset of white blush may only be delayed for a few days. Therefore
baby carrots tend to have a shorter shelf life.
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Main data obtained from USDA Agricultural Research Service and
FOAStat of the United Nations.
Also - Bringing Up Baby (Carrots) Author(s): tina peterson Source:
Gastronomica , Vol. 8, No. 4 (Fall 2008), pp. 55-59
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Important Note: This website contains information which is for
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