The Dutch bred an orange carrot to celebrate the House of Orange.
The Greeks used the carrot as love medicine, to make men more virile and women more yielding. They also used it against cancerous tumors. In the Middle Ages, doctors prescribed carrots to cure diseases from syphilis to dog bites.
In the 16th century the carrot traveled from France to England.
Carrots arrived in the New World before the Mayflower. By 1609 the Pilgrims were growing it in Massachusetts.
In World War II pilots ate tons of carrots to improve their night vision. Their successes, however, were mainly due to efficient radar.
Dr. Serge Lecomte graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in linguistics. He taught Russian and Spanish at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has lived in the Homer area since 1999 and writes plays and novels for fun.
Carrots were purple, white, pale yellow, green, red and black. Never orange.
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