Why Do Carrots Spark/Flame In The Microwave?

[Fingolfin]

Have you ever microwaved peas-n-carrots (the ones in the frozen veggie aisle)?

Have you ever noticed that the carrots spark and/or flame after about 10 seconds!!?? Just the carrots, not the peas!

I feel like I am watching Illuminations @ EPCOT or something. Blueish-white lights sparkle and pop all over the place! Little yellow flames streak up at various locations! It’s crazy!!

When you take them out, some of the carrots even have burn marks on them! This is unfortunate because my two year old will not eat the carrots that have these small burn marks, so I have to go through and manually remove these carrots, or deviously “scratch off” the burn marks. What a pain!

My wife and I have noticed this happening on various power levels, not just High, it just takes a little longer for the sparks and/or flames to occur. We have even noticed this phenomenon on different microwaves (my mother-in-laws and various friends), so it’s not something restricted to just our microwave. And again, we have not noticed this happening with ANY other veggies! Just carrots! It doesn’t matter what temperature they are either, frozen, refrigerator temperature, or room temperature, the sparks and/or flames will always occur!

So, can anybody explain why this happens?

Thanks

Testy

[Zazie]

WHAT!? There is something wrong here! I never had my carrots go up in flames in the microwave!!
This is just weird…

[Fingolfin]

Well they don’t really “go up in flames” so to speak. Just little, random flames here and there.

I’m pretty sure this only applies to frozen carrots. Fresh, non-frozen carrots do not flame and/or spark. I think.

Carine: Buy some frozen carrots from the store and try it.

Also, disregard the “Testy” at the bottom of my OP. I posted this on another message board, where my handle is “Testudo”. “Testy” is my nickname for my handle “Testudo” :blink:

[Zazie]

I got to try that Fingolfin! It is like a fun science experiment!!!

[Swampwolf]

I’ve never seen carrots do that, but if you slice a grape almost in half (with some skin connecting the halves) and place it face-down in the microwave, you can nuke it for 10-20 seconds and get a nice, harmless* fireworks display.

[sub]harmless meaning that it’s never harmed my microwave, after repeated demonstrations. YMMV[/sub]

[Ringo]

Well, non-frozen carrots (I just nuked 2) swell, pop open and steam comes out, They emerge looking deflated.

But no sparks or flames.

I just put a couple in the freezer. I have no idea how long it takes to freeze a carrot. Will report again later.

[donkeyoatey]

From this page:

If you often cook mixed vegetables from frozen in a microwave, on a microwaveable plate you may notice that carrots produce sparks during cooking and, on closer examination, they display small burns. Why is this? several factors make frozen carrots susceptible to the effect described (although other vegetables also do this).

Firstly, dense vegetables such as carrots have a higher amount of minerals in them - iron, magnesium and selenium - than other food items …
Secondly, while microwaves are extremely good at heating liquid water, ice is almost totally transparent to them…These areas, typically at the extreme point of the carrot, will dry out rapidly and then char, essentially forming small carbon points.
Thirdly, carrots are relatively large objects (compared to, say frozen peas) and because microwaves are essentially varying high voltage fields, a large alternating electrical potential exists between the highly conductive charred sections.
Finally, carrots are generally given quite angular cuts, giving sharp points which will yield the highest field gradients.

[pud_lumpkins]

oh, I know, you’re pissing off the carrot! Satan is a carrot

[Joey_P]

*Originally posted by blessedwolf *
*I’ve never seen carrots do that, but if you slice a grape almost in half (with some skin connecting the halves) and place it face-down in the microwave, you can nuke it for 10-20 seconds and get a nice, harmless fireworks display.

[sub]harmless meaning that it’s never harmed my microwave, after repeated demonstrations. YMMV[/sub] **

I love showing that trick to others also, but I have two questions about it. Why does it happen? And why doesn’t it happen sometimes? Like when I’m trying to show it to other people.

[Ringo]

Well, no flame, but the first frozen one I nuked came out charred in the middle, and the paper towel it was on is charred as well.

[SC_Wolf]

If you’re looking for consistancy and reproducablity of your microwave lightshows, switch from carrots to unwanted compact disks:
http://hochwald.tripod.com/microwave/cd/index.html

(words of caution: it was my understanding that running a microwave with no water content in the cooking chamber was hard on the unit, so should you try this, you may want to have a small glass of water in the back corner. Secondly, a cook time of about 5 seconds is more than enough for the full lightshow; anything longer and the disc will start to smoke bad.)

[Fingolfin]

Ah-ha! Thanks Donkey!

Coincidentally, that exact same information (from the ‘World Carrot Musuem’ site) was given to me by someone else on another message board.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

Try taking it out of the aluminum foil tray. :rolleyes:

[istara]

…because they are made of 24-carrot gold?