Baby carrots

Of course, baby carrots are not really baby carrots, but I received this somewhat hysterical email today that makes baby carrots sound like they're almost poisonous to eat. Like many emails of this ilk, there is a bit of truth lurking in there (such as chlorinated water used in the processing). Don't rinse your veges in tap (chlorinated) water; it might be a commie plot.

Your comments?

"Baby" carrots are not actually young carrots, or even carrots that are grown specifically to be small. In fact, the concept of the baby carrot was born 21 years ago by a <st1><st1>California</st1></st1> farmer wanting to sell more of his carrots that he was throwing away due to imperfections -- they were too knobby, twisted or broken.

After cutting the less-than-perfect carrots down to a uniformly smaller size, they were fed through an industrial potato peeler to smooth the edges and remove the skin. This marked the birth of the "baby" carrot market.

The success of baby carrots may be a reflection of the desire for food that is uniform in appearance and taste, and for food that is sterile, prewashed, and prepackaged.

Dr. Mercola

Actually the good Doctor is correct again; these reformed carrots once were waste, cattle feed, or just plowed back under.

These PROCESSED CARROTS (NOT "BABY") are essentially FREE raw material from the mega carrot grower to sell, for additional profit, with a few costs other than some machining, washing & bagging.

Many times these PROCESSED CARROTS are rinsed with preservatives like: sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, nitrates/nitrites, or salts (undeclared as 'aids to processing'); inert gases like carbon dioxide or nitrogen (like bagged washed lettuce brands).

MANY times the washing of such PROCESSED CARROTS involves reducing or replacing pesticides with chlorine, once machined down to the smaller size (the bleaching is to inhibit oxidation, browning or discoloration), which harms YOUR HEALTH & so-called vegetable flavor.

But it GETS WORSE. The same California central valley carrot grower, near Bakersfield, CA, is trying to industrially hoisted pasteurized, concentrated, & highly processed liquid, from the pressed left over machined MASH of the PROCESSED CARROTS, off as good for you carrot juice, or concentrate. Trust me, such products are NOT good for you!

But wait, it gets EVEN WORSE! The left over squeezed PROCESSED CARROT mash, is then dried to be sold off as 'carrot fiber', claiming to hold more water for industrial users, for more profit, in things like finished baked goods.

Your take home message today is DO NOT PUCHASE ANY PROCESSED CARROT products or brands, finish food brands using such POISON, or so called natural beverages or smoothies using these harmful sources, posing as nutritious, &IN FACT, very BAD for your health.

Do not purchase bagged carrots either!

Go to your local farmer's market and purchase real fresh ORGANIC CARROTS (fresh smell/snap).

Hah! I kept waiting for the punch line. But, I guess the real joke is the author of the original email.

Hopefully, with his fear of nitrates and nitrites, the author hasn't read McGee’s column from the April 19th edition of the NY Times. Unfortunately, the column is no longer accessible for free, but for me, the best part was:

Over the last couple of decades, persisting worries about nitrite-cured meats have been allayed by the realization that bacteria in our mouths convert some of the copious nitrates found in vegetables into nitrites even as we eat them, so meats contribute relatively little to our daily nitrite intake. Epidemiologists have also looked and failed to find any correlation between nitrite or nitrate intake and the incidence of stomach cancer in humans.

Of course, baby carrots are not really baby carrots, but I received this somewhat hysterical email today that makes baby carrots sound like they're almost poisonous to eat. Like many emails of this ilk, there is a bit of truth lurking in there (such as chlorinated water used in the processing). Don't rinse your veges in tap (chlorinated) water; it might be a commie plot.

Your comments?

One of the sure signs of a crackpot rant is the use of CAPITAL LETTERS to give EMPHASIS to the author's HOT BUTTONS.

Julia Child in "The Way To Cook" devotes a page or two to cutting up carrots. She mentions the posh (but time-consuming) cut that fancy restaurants use--the French name means "in the shape of a garlic clove"--with the rounded edges, versus the rougher home cut. If the carrot agribusiness has found a way to take carrots that would otherwise be discarded and to turn them out ready-cut in the posh form, then I say bravo and I buy them when I want carrots in that form.

All of the preservatives and antioxidants and cleansing agents mentioned in this scare article are in common use in processed foodstuffs. Were I one who doesn't eat processed foods, I'd steer clear of these carrots, too. But for the rest of us, it doesn't matter. It certainly seems less hazardous than true raw carrots, which may have pathogenic bacteria lurking on them, especially if they were grown organically with a dung-based fertilizer. Or picked by migrant workers not above taking a crap out in the fields when nobody's looking.

So, no, I don't buy this rant. I do buy processed "baby carrots" on occasion.

-Paul W.

I don't buy them or eat them. Not because I think they are going to kill me, but because they always seem "slimy." Very unappetizing. I always buy fresh, whole carrots and peel them myself. I'm not much on buying "prepared" vegetables, anyway. Much prefer to wash and tear/chop my own lettuce, onions, you name it vs. buying the pre-washed and cut versions of same.

Hah! I kept waiting for the punch line. But, I guess the real joke is the author of the original email.

If you look up Dr. Mercola on Wikipedia, you'll find that he's against chlorine and fluorine in water, pasteurization and even homogenization of milk, all grains, etc., etc.

If you look up Dr. Mercola on Wikipedia, you'll find that he's against chlorine and fluorine in water, pasteurization and even homogenization of milk, all grains, etc., etc.

So you’re in Dr. Mercola’s Rolodex! Have you replaced all your cookware with enameled cast iron as he recommends in this video?

It appears that your email was written by someone named Russ Bianchi as a comment on the “good” doctor’s blog.

I eat a large handful of them nearly every day. I use them for mid morning snacks since I'm trying to eat several small meals through the day instead of my usual breakfast skip / lunch / dinner routine.

Raw? They taste the same as any other carrot out there, plus they are finger food size.

Richard

Wow, the comments section of that blog make you laugh (or cry). I particularly loved the woman who used to eat "baby" carrots for fiber, but now found out they have no fiber unlike real carrots.

Wow, the comments section of that blog make you laugh (or cry). I particularly loved the woman who used to eat "baby" carrots for fiber, but now found out they have no fiber unlike real carrots.

The one that cracked me up: Low fat milk was once used to feed pigs until the farmers found out that the pigs actually got sick from it and died. Now they sell it to humans as healthy food.

Since I drink only non-fat milk, I must already be dead and am a zombie.

Larry,

I've been drinking skim milk for so long that the real stuff gags me. I can't get the 1% or 1/2% stuff down any more.

Reckon that puts me into Zombie status...also...uh...urghh...arhhgg (zombie sounds)

Richard

Here I am after enjoying a glass of skim milk:

Wow, the comments section of that blog make you laugh (or cry). I particularly loved the woman who used to eat "baby" carrots for fiber, but now found out they have no fiber unlike real carrots.

Reminds me of the Cambridge, MA resident who was agin' MIT operating a research reactor in the city because "he didn't want any of those atoms" in his town.

God bless the ignorant. I suppose somebody has to . . . .

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Raw? They taste the same as any other carrot out there, plus they are finger food size.

Richard

Richard, they must be better in Texas (but, isn't everything, according to the saying?) I have to join Carrie in saying I never buy these, and wouldn't. Not for the reasons in that hysteric's message, but because I don't find they taste the same as any other carrot out there. They taste watered-down to me (and occasionally a little sour, from the preservative I presume, I do eat them from time to time as they show up frequently on crudite platters), and they just don't have the intense flavor of a truly fresh peeled carrot. Could I tell the difference blindfolded? I'm certain of it.

they must be better in Texas

Nahh...I think its more likely that regular carrots are not as good as you might be able to get.

Richard