# Baby Carrots....... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762 "2001-07-25T17:48:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asarya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Asarya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asarya)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/1 "2001-07-25T17:48:14Z")
Where do they come from? How are they so small? ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/2 "2001-07-25T20:37:25Z")
Asarya ? Yesiam. More than you wanted to know about baby carrots can be found here… [http://www.grimmway.com/baby.htm](http://www.grimmway.com/baby.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/3 "2001-07-25T21:03:16Z")
Is that site for real? I can’t believe it. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/4 "2001-07-25T21:09:15Z")
Is Grimmway Farms for real, do you mean. Yes indeedy. They’re quite huge. ---
**Author:** ![Asarya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Asarya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asarya)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/5 "2001-07-25T21:27:56Z")
Funneefarmer? yesyouare! Thank you. Exactly what i always wanted to know! ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/6 "2001-07-25T21:42:16Z")
I have noticed that pre-packaged baby carrots tend to go soft and have bad spots on them much more often than regular carrots (they also go bad quickly in the fridge unless you let them dry out some). I assume that this is due to the protective peel being removed. Any thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/7 "2001-07-25T23:19:28Z")
this is not right, it’s an aberration, it’s against nature. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/8 "2001-07-26T04:43:51Z")
It’s not only an aberration but it’s also deceptive marketing. If any of you have ever tasted young carrots that are less than six inches long, they are infinitely sweeter than ones of any larger size. These “lathe turned” abominations are repackaged horse treats. Long thin carrots have always been my favorite large bunch carrot, but their flavor is a mere facsimilie of the real article. Steamed and [glazed baby carrots](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=832153#post832153) with a little butter and maple syrup, or better yet, wash some straight out of the ground and munch away. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/9 "2001-07-26T07:30:43Z")
**zenster** has hit the nail on the head; this is a triumph of marketing over common sense. I’ve grown carrots before and when the time comes to thin the rows, you end up with a big bunch of tiny carrots that are very tender and sweet. There ought to be a law against these manufactured vegetables (well, maybe not, but you know what I mean) ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/10 "2001-07-26T18:27:46Z")
I’ve only bought those baby carrots once, and I was so disgusted that I’ve never eaten them again. They were the toughest, greenest carrots I’ve ever tasted. I was astounded that they could even call them “baby” carrots. I much prefer young, whole carrots with the greens on. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/11 "2001-07-27T00:15:25Z")
I don’t see this as particularly shocking. First of all, it’s obvious they don’t come out of the ground that way. In addition, they’re liked well enough, and usually chosen over full carrots. So what if there’s an industrial process to get them that way? It’s not like they’re being sprayed with thalidimide. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/12 "2001-07-27T01:24:15Z")
I like them fine. I look at them like boneless skinless chicken breasts. When I was going to college they did not have boneless chicken breasts. When I wanted to make stir fry I had to cut the meat away from the bone. What a pain. Now Tyson does that for me. It is sort of the same with the carrots. If I make that french name for fresh vegetables and dip. I have to cut and peel the carrots. If I buy the baby carrots I do not. Bughunter: They may not be the same as fresh carrots lovingly grown by Jesuit monks in the hills of Provence, picked at the perfect age when they are the most tender, the most sweet, just before sundown so that they are not wilted by sitting in the hot afternoon sun then rushed to market where they can be seen glistening in Mediterranean sun with the morning dew. But they are hardly disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/13 "2001-07-27T02:58:07Z")
I’ve tried Grimmway Farms carrots. They’re better than regular carrots but not as good as genuine baby carrots. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/14 "2001-08-07T15:23:19Z")
I needed to thin out the carrots that i’m growing in the garden the other day, wow! you should have seen them (the thinnings), they were pale orange, translucent and perfectly sweet and crisp, not woody at all, none of them was bigger than my little [pinky] finger, mmmmm ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-carrots/73762/15 "2001-08-07T16:00:34Z")
\>\> They may not be the same as fresh carrots lovingly grown by Jesuit monks in the hills of Provence I thought all along it was Franciscan monks in Napoli… It just goes to show you…