"Baby" Carrots?
"Baby" carrots are not actually young carrots, or even carrots that are grown specifically to be small. In fact, the concept of the baby carrot was born 21 years ago by a California farmer wanting to sell more of his carrots that he was throwing away due to imperfections -- they were too knobby, twisted or broken.
After cutting the less-than-perfect carrots down to a uniformly smaller size, they were fed through an industrial potato peeler to smooth the edges and remove the skin. This marked the birth of the "baby" carrot market.
These PROCESSED CARROTS (NOT "BABY") are essentially FREE raw material from the mega carrot grower to sell, for additional profit, with a few costs other than some machining, washing & bagging.
Many times these PROCESSED CARROTS are rinsed with preservatives like: sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, nitrates/nitrites, or salts (undeclared as 'aids to processing'); inert gases like carbon dioxide or nitrogen (like bagged washed lettuce brands).
MANY times the washing of such PROCESSED CARROTS involves reducing or replacing pesticides with chlorine, once machined down to the smaller size (the bleaching is to inhibit oxidation, browning or discoloration), which harms YOUR HEALTH & so-called vegetable flavor.
But it GETS WORSE. The same California central valley carrot grower, near Bakersfield, CA, is trying to industrially hoisted pasteurized, concentrated, & highly processed liquid, from the pressed left over machined MASH of the PROCESSED CARROTS, off as good for you carrot juice, or concentrate. Trust me, such products are NOT good for you!
But wait, it gets EVEN WORSE! The left over squeezed PROCESSED CARROT mash, is then dried to be sold off as 'carrot fiber', claiming to hold more water for industrial users, for more profit, in things like finished baked goods.
Your take home message today is DO NOT PUCHASE ANY PROCESSED CARROT products or brands, finish food brands using such POISON, or so called natural beverages or smoothies using these harmful sources, posing as nutritious, &IN FACT, very BAD for your health.
Do not purchase bagged carrots either!
Go to your local farmer's market and purchase real fresh ORGANIC CARROTS (fresh smell/snap).