SC - Carrots and Turnips-Period?

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/20/00 2:24:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
CBlackwill at aol.com writes:

<< Are these naturally occurring colors, or are they 
synthetically/genetically 
 altered?  I have not seen these before, and would love to get my hands on a 
 few.  Think of the beautiful salads and primaveras you could make with these 
 things!
 
 Balthazar of Blackmoor >>

They are cultivars of regular carrots. If you begin with some queen Ann's 
lace and dig them up in the fall, picking out the biggest roots replanting 
them and then saving the seed for a few years you can produce your own white 
carrots easily. Are they new? Not really. The genes have always been there 
and some breeders have seen fit to breed those color characteristics back 
into the carrots. White carrots existed in Persia up until the 1200s when 
orange carrots apparently became a novelty. They became little used again and 
in the 14th-15th centuries red carrots are mentioned as being available in 
markets with orange carrots becoming the norm once again in the 16th century. 
White carrots have only recently been reintroduced and depending on how 
picked over the seed displays are at your local markets should be readily 
obtainable. Burpee's and several other companies have carried red carrots and 
yellow carrots for a couple of years although I haven't seen them available 
until this year from seed suppliers.

Ras