Purple Carrots

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and purple carrots ready to be oven roasted.
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and purple carrots ready to be oven roasted.

We were in Market Street in McKinney recently, and I noticed purple carrots.  Always trying to spice up our vegetables and sides, I grabbed a small bunch.

Purple carrots and potatoes being prepared for roasting.
Purple carrots and potatoes being prepared for roasting.

At home, I noticed these things are deep, dark purple.  They are so purple that in dim lighting they look almost black.

IMG_0770
Steak, lobster and roasted vegetables.

I made two dishes with them:  roasted sweet potatoes, potatoes, and carrots and steamed carrots.  They looked lovely next to the orange and white of the potatoes as well as just with the orange of other carrots.

IMG_0930
The purple that discolored the orange carrots ended up making it look like they were dirty.

Flavorwise, they did not taste as sweet as regular carrots.  The flavor was fine.  In the potato dish, I did not notice the lack of sweetness.  When they were steamed with the other carrots, it was a bit more obvious.

My purple stained fingers. Thankfully we hadn't invited dinner guests.
My purple stained fingers. Thankfully we hadn’t invited dinner guests.

The only drawback I found was that the purple leeched.  The water I steamed the carrots in was dark purple.  The purple wore off on the orange carrots and potatoes as well as my fingers.

The water from steaming the carrots turned purple.
The water from steaming the carrots turned purple.

I will use them again, just for something different and to add color on a dinner plate.  However, I not going to consider these a staple in my crisper.

IMG_0824

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *