I like taking lots of carrots with me to work so I avoid raiding the chocolate machine. I know people usually peel them but I just can’t be asked. Is this actually bad for me and why? I do actually wash them. Is it just that peeling them makes them look nicer, as I don’t really care. Or is there anything about the outside of carrots that harmful? Seems just the same as the inside to me and the dirt would wash off the same way it would wash off an apple. Or not?
Carrots, unlike apples, grow in direct contact with the soil - so there’s the potential for grit (which could damage your teeth), fecal bacteria (from natural manure) and the eggs of intestinal parasites, such as tapeworms (also from natural manure), to be present - not all of these are removed by washing.
Having said all that, I don’t think the risk is particularly high in most cases and I don’t always bother peeling them myself.
I’d imagine that a vigourous scrub with a scourer would suffice to get rid of the nasties that Mangetout mentions. My local supermarket (Tesco) has just started selling unpeeled cleaned carrots that I’ve taken to cooking in their ‘skins’.
At the food hygiene course I attended, they kept going on about how you could not wash bacteria off food, which is probably true in the strict sense of the word, (which is why I said what I did above) but I suspect, as jjimm says, that a good scrub under running water (you can buy vegetable brushes now, but they are just the same as nail brushes) would remove anything that is likely to cause harm to a person of otherwise healthy constitution.
Try the peeled baby carrots that are bagged at the store-ready to rinse off and eat. They are a daily snack for my son and I and a quick fix. The vegetable scrubber is good, though. I have always used on for baked potatoes-love those skins and no sickness.
Do a taste test with a washed unpeeled and a peeled carrot. You’ll notice a difference. The unpeeled carrot adds a slight bitter, earthy taste to the sweetness of the carrot. Peeling also gets rid of whatever the carrots have been dunked in/sprayed with, to give them a longer shelf life. The peeled baby carrots are actually shaved down regular carrots, along with a heftier price. Buy a few bags of carrots on sale, wash and peel only as needed, and have a healthy, moderately-priced snack. Perhaps you can dip them in chocolate as an occasional treat. 
Normally I find organic food to be overly expensive and not worth it - but not so with carrots. An organic carrot is the most delicious thing in the world, and the skins have much less chemical nastiness in them.
Or, as mentioned, baby carrots are pretty great too.
one reason is if the carrots have been exposed to pesticides which is very common
e.g.
“Topping, cutting the top 2-3 mm. and peeling of carrots removes about 4/5 of residues chlorfenvinphos. primiphos-methyl, quinalphos and triazophos”
from http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/pn27/PN27P3.htm which is an antipesticide site
I don’t usually bother to peel carrots and it’s rarely an issue (though they look more appetizing in stews if they’re peeled). I’ll eat them straight from the bag and they taste fine (whether they’re pre-peeled or plain).
Pesticides and carrots? OK.
First, unless you’re buying these off a farmer’s truck, they’ve been washed so much you won’t find anything on them. And if you did, stop being afraid of it. . .we’d pull carrots out of the ground and eat 'em.
Let’s also clear up one other thing. There is such a thing as a baby carrot. Yes there are what might be called carrot knubs, which are sliced and slivered into uniform size and shape. But there are also just really baby carrots if you want to buy them.
Next you’ll tell me baby corn is really processed corn and that I have to be careful about eating the cob!
The bigger problem here isn’t the chemical nastiness, but the biological nastiness. Guess what organic agriculture uses for fertilizer? Here’s a hint: It’s not something you want on your carrots. You still want to clean them thoroughly.
And I’ll also dispute your claim that an organic carrot is the most delicious thing in the world, but only because that distinction belongs to the organic tomato.
When I was a kid, growing up in South Dakota, we used to go to my Father’s garden and pull up carrots, wipe them off and eat them without ever having any problems. But, I don’t know if the ones you buy at the market are the same quality of those found in my Father’s garden. But, I say, scrub 'em and eat 'em.
In today’s markets, you don’t know where the produce is originating. It is shipped from all over the world. Washing produce is something everyone should do, unless it’s going to be peeled before eating.
For those who are worried about the nasties, a dip in a bowl of water that contains a small amount of bleach will kill them all. Then rinse and the bleach taste is gone. We did this routinely in Africa and never had a problem with intestinal bugs.
Oddly enough, I find the baby carrots to be a better value. Packed in their special bags, they seem to last a good deal longer than regular carrots, thus reducing my familiy’s waste.
Plus, the kids love the little carrots and eat them far more readily than regular carrots. Is it just packaging? Amazingly, according to an NPR report, the answer is no. It seems that the full sized carrots that are cut down for “baby” carrots are actually a different variety than the regular carrots you see in the stores. Not having to worry about breakage in shipping, the “baby” variety is bred longer and thinner, thus giving more “babies” per carrot, and a much smaller core. Also bred for more sweetness.
And not only does our family eat more carrots and waste fewer, I get to feel good about purchasing this luxury product. It seems that the baby carrot fad has greatly boosted farmers profits from increased sales and better utilization. The shavings are sold off to food manufacturers a a separate product.
Umm, … as a separate product.
Also forgot to second the votes for REAL baby carrots and eating carrots straight from the garden with just a rinse under the hose. The skins add a slight bitterness that I like.
If it is out of your garden you know what you put on it, and can determine for yourself if peeling is needed. We use only well rotted compost, no manure, and no pesticides. We then plant the carrots, carefully thin the carrots, eat the tiny tiny carrots we thin out, let the garden go to weed, remember the carrots about 2 weeks too late and pull up huge woody monsters that no-one will eat.
Then it’s back to the prepackaged “baby” carrots the rest of the year.
Strawberries grow in the ground.
How do all you carrot-peelers peel strawberries to avoid the same nasties you’re avoiding when you peel carrots?
Peace.
Mighty odd strawberries you grow. So what animal pollinates the strawberry flowers underground?
Sorry, sarcasm got the better of me. Strawberries grow above ground. Sure strawberry plants are only few inches tall, but it is still above the ground. Occasionally the berry might ret partly on the ground, but that is a far cry from being buried in dirt.
I hate carrots, but peanuts (unlike strawberries) grow in the ground and I always peel them.
I stand corrected. I must be confusing picking strawberries with picking radishes.
Although, as you’ve mentioned, the berries can be lying on the ground touching that dirty dirt.
Peace.
I don’t know about the rest of you. but there could be a ton of freshly cleaned and peeled carrots sitting on my desk, and I don’t think I’d be one iota less tempted to eat chocolate.