Thanks to all who responded to our message regarding the price rise for deliveries. Your kind support gives us the strength to continue following the path we’ve forged.
Reminder:
From January 1, 2022 (i.e., this week), delivery costs are: 25 NIS for direct deliveries, 12.5 NIS for collection points
Wishing you a warm winter and a good and healthy 2022!
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COVID had changed so many of our old viewpoints (may they return to their routine very soon!) The tale of Saba Eliezer who tugs the big carrot out of his garden with the help of Savta Yocheved, granddaughter Avigail, the dog, cat and mouse would not have passed the rules: I doubt they cleansed their hands with alcogel prior to going out to the garden and there is no chance they kept a 2 meter distance or wore a mask while they tugged and pulled at a huge root… I worry that at the end of this endeavor the whole family would have gone into bidud (at least they had enough carrot for 14 days….)
The Corona period had also halted (temporarily!) my annual meeting with first graders from the American School in Jerusalem. For several years now, as part of their “Field to Table” curriculum, a group of enthusiastic toddlers has been arriving and touring the field, to the delight of us all.Corona has prevented this event ror the past two years, so I was especially happy that we were back to normal this year, as the first graders arrived recently to marvel with me in our muddy wintry field.
The highlights of the tour are the moments of wonder that come along with discovering a vegetable hidden among huge leaves or peeking between stems, but the greatest enthusiasm and fun are always reserved for vegetables waiting quietly underground, as if sitting in a room with the lights off waiting to shout, “Surprise!” During our wintery tour we met beets and turnips, daikon and radishes, but the greatest highlight was of course – the carrots. This year I forgot to bring a pitchfork with me on the tour, thus the youngsters had to dig stubbornly into the ground, diligently and steadily turning the orange roots round themselves, back and forth, over and over again, until – at last – “the carrots came out!” This week’s Newsletter is dedicated to that lovable orange root which has been visiting your box since mid-autumn.
It’s been over a year since we saw you last and we miss your visits in the field. One of the joyful things about open days are the “field trips” (excuse the pun…) we take you on, and the moments of wonder when one identifies a vegetable hiding in great big leaves or peeking out from stems. But the greatest excitement and fun have to do with the veggies waiting patiently underground, as if waiting in a dark room moments before they are yanked out and declare “surprise!” So this week we’ll devote our newsletter to one of those roots, the carrot, who has been visiting your boxes from the middle of autumn.
In a ponderous 1904 letter to his beloved wife Olga, Anton Checkhov writes, “You ask, ‘what is life’? That is the same as asking, ‘What is a carrot?’ A carrot is a carrot and we know nothing more.” Over a century later, we can no longer say that “a carrot is a carrot and we know nothing more.” Countless research studies have been conducted to examine this basic veggie, so common and beloved, generating a wealth of information on the carrot’s healthy components and its ability to maintain our health and to spur healing.
But Chekhov did articulate a hint of the mystery lying in the root. What meets the eye as we stroll by the carrot bed is only its bad-hair-day and the edge of its scalp. But when we tug it out of the soil – voila! Orange happiness retrieved from the dark underworld…
Winter is its season. The carrot does not appreciate warm weather, but adores the cold. It can even grow under a blanket of snow. Now that the weather has cooled off at last, the carrot has finally become a frequent guest in our field and your boxes. We seed several carrot beds every few weeks, and after several months pull out bed after bed of juicy orange corkscrew roots, week after week.
The carrot (Daucus carota) belongs to the Umbelliferae family, home to such vegetables and spices as celery, parsley, fennel, dill and cilantro. Various wild carrot species have grown in many areas in the world, specifically in five continents: the Mediterranean, South Asia, Africa, Australia and America. The origin of certain domesticated species is probably Afghanistan and Turkey. The Arabs introduced the carrot to Spain, where it spread to Europe. Its first domesticated varieties came in a range of colors: red, purple and yellow-green. Later, yellow and white carrots were developed. In the 18th century, the Dutch grew orange carrots, which are today’s most common variety. In Israel, the carrot has been raised from the beginning of the Jewish settlement. The Arabs used to grow dark purple carrots, which can still be found today to a small extent, mostly for aesthetic use.
The wild carrot is known in English as “Queen Anne’s lace,” a name which originated in a fairy tale about how the wild carrot’s flower got its distinctive look: a sort of white lace embroidery, with a dark red-purple dot at its center. Legend has it that Queen Anne (wife of King James I), who reigned as Denmark’s queen in the 16th and 17th centuries, was an expert at lace tatting. One day she pricked her finger in the process, and a drop of blood rolled onto the center to create this special flower. Although the tale only appeared in writing some 200 years after Anne’s death, it could be associated with the 17th century custom for ladies to smartly adorn their hats with wild carrot flowers.
Queen Anne’s Lace
Carrots are usually biennial. At the end of their first year of growth, they develop leaves and a root. When the root is well-developed and the plant has received its necessary dose of cold weather, the next season leads to the development of a stem which grows rather tall. As the stem branches out, it produces peripheral branches which end in an inflorescence resembling an umbrella. The seeds remain in the dry fruit, one seed per fruit. They contain ethereal oil which provides their unique scent. When a carrot is grown for food, we are interested in its taproot, which is why it should be picked before reaching flowering and seeding – for by then the root is too old and becomes grainy.
The root develops in three stages, beginning right after sprouting when a long skewer-like root grows. At the second stage, the root thickens and becomes longer, gaining its orange color. At the third stage, the downward growth stops and the root only thickens.
The root consists of a central stele, the endodermis and the cortex. The endodermis is surrounded by tissue, which creates the inner cortex and the outer phloem. This tissue is rich in color substance and sugars. A carrot’s quality is determined by the thin texture of its central stele in comparison to the cortex tissues. In difficult growing conditions, or as the plant ages, the central stele becomes wood-like and the carrot is no longer fit for human consumption.
The carrot from inside to the outside: the endodermis, the cortex and the phloem.
The carrots in your boxes were seeded three-and-a-half to four months ago. Never one to rush, the carrot sprouted slowly: first its two long ears, the cotyledons, peeked out of the earth. Afterwards the plant actually grew “real leaves,” the type we can identify as carrot greens, a true bunny gourmet treat.
The Cotyledons, first sprouts
First real leaves
The carrot needs a lot of space to breathe and grow, in both length and depth and preferably from all four directions. But its seeds are tiny and hard to seed accurately and well-spaced. Thus, as soon as they begin to grow, we start thinning the plants and pluck out lots of tiny carrot sprouts to allow the remainder to grow nice, bountiful roots. Last week, as I was thinning out the carrot beds in my little Noga’s kindergarten vegetable plot, I found out that children enjoy being bunnies, too, as they happily consumed the tiny carrot plants we tugged out of the earth.
The orange of the carrot is known for its medicinal qualities: research highly acclaims it as a cancer and heart disease fighter. Carrots maintain healthy eyes, fortify the immune system, protect your skin, and generally boost human growth and vitality. Its healing powers come from the yellow-orange caratanoid pigment group: the alpha carotene, beta carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin.
Beta carotene, the most researched and popular pigment in the carrot, belongs to the carotenoid group, which becomes Vitamin A when consumed. For this reason they’re termed “pro-vitamin.” Vitamin A, aka “retinol” due to its benefits to the retina, plays a crucial role in healthy vision. A Vitamin A deficiency can impair the function of the photo-pigments in the retina and cornea, causing blindness or night blindness. Vitamin A promotes skin health and epithelial cell growth, and in pregnancy contributes richly to proper fetal development. Current research indicates that Vitamin A is critical to the process of learning and memory, probably by enriching the area of the brain responsible for memory function.
Vitamin A keeps the immune system working, whereas a deficiency can increase the risk of acquiring viral infections. In infectious diseases, a Vitamin A deficiency can aggravate the disease and increase the mortality risk. In Chinese medicine, carrots are known to strengthen the spleen and blood in anemia. Medical research supports this as well, recognizing that Vitamin A is beneficial in absorbing iron and relieving the symptoms of anemia.
Proper Vitamin A consumption has been linked to reducing the threat of many types of cancer, including eye, breast, large intestine, prostate, skin and liver.
Carrots also contain falcarinol, a natural pesticide which the carrot probably develops against harmful fungi by delaying the creation of material which encourages fungus growth. In a like manner, falcarinol hinders the creation of components which foster the growth of cancerous tumors, thus delaying their development.
Carrots are also rich in excellent “traditional” nutrition components: potassium and such B vitamins as folic acid, vitamins C, K, E and dietary fibers. In short, it is full of great stuff. Give the carrot a place of honor in your menu!
Beyond the orange beta carotene, carrots come in rainbow colors. How beautiful are these?
Overdosing on carrots may cause carotenemia – a temporary yellowing of the skin, caused by excessive consumption of beta carotene from fresh carrots. This is not dangerous, only a little strange-looking, and it disappears several weeks after going cold turkey on beta carotene.
Carrot Tips
– If you receive carrots in a bunch, complete with greens, the best way to store them is by removing the greens. Otherwise they will draw water from the root and cause it to shrivel.
– Carrots should be stored in the coldest place in the refrigerator, in a plastic bag or in the vegetable drawer.
– The carrot is best unpeeled. You can lightly scrape the peeling, or not at all. The peeling is tasty and nutritious.
– Like the tomato, a cooked carrot is more nutritious and healthier than a raw carrot. The level of vitamin A rises as the cooking – and even a light scraping – breaks down the cell walls. It is best to cook carrots in a small amount of water, so the vitamins are not diffused in the cooking liquid.
Check out our recipe section for nice diverse ideas for carrot cuisine.
* Adding a small amount of oil to the cooking liquid will increase the absorption of antioxidants.
– It is recommended to combine carrots with foods containing vitamin E, such as peanuts, pumpkin, leafy vegetables and whole grains.
When you purchase carrots in the supermarket, they are already meticulously sorted out with only the right sizes and shape surviving the selection and placed on the shelves. (The rest usually become “baby” carrots…) But in the field, the carrots grow in various shapes, revealing the playfulness and grace of the charming carrot that loves to dance, hug, hang out and make funny faces. Here are some vivid examples:
Wishing you a great orange week – in health, happiness and good living!
Alon, Bat Ami, Dror and the entire Chubeza team
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WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S BOXES?
Monday: Fennel/daikon/sweet potatoes, celery stalk/celeriac, cauliflower, Swiss chard/kale/spinach, cabbage/kohlrabi, fresh onions/beets, turnips/Jerusalem artichoke, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, parsley/dill/coriander.
Large box, in addition: Potatoes/green fava beans/ fresh garden peas or snow peas, lettuce/rucola/tatsoi, broccoli.
FRUIT BOXES: Avocado, oranges/pomelit, bananas, clementinas, red apples.
Wednesday: Fennel/kohlrabi, celery stalk/celeriac, cauliflower, Swiss chard/kale/spinach, fresh onions/beets, turnips/potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke/green fava beans/ fresh garden peas or snow peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, parsley/dill/coriander.
Large box, in addition: Red long peppers, lettuce/rucola/tatsoi, cabbage/broccoli.
FRUIT BOXES: Avocado, oranges/pomelit, bananas, clementinas, red apples.