Carrots – Daucus Carota

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Carrots are nutritional heroes, they store a goldmine of nutrients. No other vegetable or fruit contains as much beta-carotene as carrots, which the body converts to vitamin A.

This is a truly versatile vegetable and an excellent source of vitamins B and C as well as calcium pectate, an extraordinary pectin fibre that has been found to have cholesterol-lowering properties.
The carrot is a herbaceous plant containing about 87% water, rich in mineral salts and vitamins (B,C,D,E).

Raw they are an excellent source of vitamin A and potassium; they contain vitamin C, vitamin B6, thiamine, folic acid, and magnesium.

Cooked they are an excellent source of vitamin A, a good source of potassium, and contain vitamin B6, copper, folic acid, and magnesium. The high level of beta-carotene is very important and gives carrots their distinctive orange colour.

Carrots also contain, in smaller amounts, essential oils, carbohydrates and nitrogenous composites. They are well-known for their sweetening, anti-anemic, healing, diuretic, remineralizing and sedative properties.

In order to assimilate the greatest quantity of the nutrients present in them, it is important to chew them well. Carrots are the exception to the general rule for vegetables – they are more nutritious cooked than raw.