Daucus carota
Long Blood Red Carrot, improved blood-red carrot: this heirloom variety from the 19th century has a rare quality among colored carrots—its dark reddish-orange flesh retains its color after cooking, whereas most purple varieties fade in the pot. This is reason enough for it to have made a comeback in chefs’ kitchens.
Characteristics:
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Long-lasting color: purplish-red skin and dark reddish-orange flesh that withstands cooking.
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Highly aromatic flavor: more intense and sweeter than that of classic carrots.
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Short, conical shape: despite its name, it remains stout, making it ideal for shallow or heavy soils.
- Reproducible heirloom variety.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: sunny.
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Soil: loose, light, and free of stones. However, its short, conical shape allows it to tolerate shallow soils better than long carrots—this is its advantage over the Nantes. Avoid fresh manure, which causes the roots to fork.
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Method: for early carrots, sow from mid-February to the end of March under cover or in a cold frame. For summer harvests and storage carrots, sow from early May to the end of June. Always sow in place, in 1 cm-deep furrows: carrots do not transplant well. See how to sow your seeds.
Care advice:
- Thin to 5 cm apart, preferably in the evening, immediately removing the discarded plants, whose smell attracts carrot flies.
- Water regularly and evenly to prevent the roots from splitting.
Harvesting advice:
- Harvest as needed. Autumn carrots can be stored throughout the winter in a sand clamp, in a cool place.
Beneficial companions:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Leave one plant to go to seed in its second year: its large white umbels attract hoverflies in large numbers, whose larvae devour aphids.
- Like all umbellifers, it is a host plant for swallowtail caterpillars.
Uses:
- Its ability to retain its color during cooking makes it a visual asset: roasted, in a velouté, or mashed, it keeps its spectacular color. Excellent raw, grated into a salad.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave a few roots in the ground over winter: they will produce seed in their second year. Harvest the umbels when they turn brown and close up like a bird’s nest. Watch out for cross-pollination with wild carrots and other varieties. See how to save your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose reproducible, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our conviction: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
An heirloom carrot that keeps its color all the way to the plate.
