Carrots are delicious on their own, served with a roast, used in a soup, blended with a juice, served in a sandwich … in fact, you can use carrots in just about anything! They are also highly nutritious, packed full of beta-carotene and flavonoids!

How do we make sure we provide top quality carrots?

Simple - we grow them ourselves! Sam draws on three generations of horticultural experience to grow delicious, flavoursome and tasty carrots. The guide that we use to harvest our carrots is: (1) the carrot must be firm (no signs of bending or limpness); (2) the carrot must have a turgid surface (no wrinkles, cracks or blemishes); (3) the carrot must not have any stringy rootlets (these are vertical roots, a sign that the carrot is overly mature); (4) the shoulder of the carrot should be orange or green, not black (blackness is an indication of age); (5) the carrot should be of uniform shape; and (6) the colour should be a dark orange (the darker orange, the more beta-carotene present in the carrot).

Where do we source our carrots from?

Our carrots usually come direct from our farm - planted, cultivated and hand-picked by Sam and the team. When the conditions aren't favourable to growing carrots on our farm (due to seasonality, crop rotation etc), we source carrots from other cool climatic areas that also have rich nutritious soil, such as around Bacchus Marsh and Werribee.

What is the best way to keep carrots?

Carrots store well unwashed in a slightly open plastic bag, in the coldest part of the fridge (the closer to 0°C the better). Alternatively, they also store well in a paper bag in a cool dark place. Don't store carrots in the same bag as fruit (especially those that emit ethylene gas such as pears or bananas), as the ethylene gas tends to turn the carrots bitter in taste.

Carrots nutritional information

Carrots are the best vegetable source of beta-carotene, which is necessary for cellular growth. Beta-carotene also helps you see in the dark: it is converted into vitamin A by the liver, and then used by the retina to assist with night vision. Carrots are also a good source of flavonoids, which help fight disease.

Carrots serving tips and suggestions

The highest concentration of nutrients are located near the surface of the carrot, so our tip is don't peel them if you have the choice! The hard cell walls of raw carrots make the nutrients in the carrot difficult for the body to digest. You can increase nutrient uptake by cooking the carrot until just tender. If you are planning on boiling the carrot, reuse the water as a base for creating stock.