Purple Rain Carrots

Has anyone grown this variety or other purple ones? How was the flavor? How are they raw as opposed to cooked? I am considering these for 2011.

I like Purple Rain better than Purple Haze, but both are good and easy to grow here. They are not as sweet as the orange Imperator types but sweeter than older types like Red Cored Chantenay , Danvers Half Long

F-dill, do those carrots lose their color when cooked, and if so what color do they turn to?

I bet they'd add a great visual to cole slaw and salads as is.

Shoe

Shoe Purple Haze is an orange carrot with a purple skin. Purple Rain rain is closer to an all purple carrot, with a small yellowish white core.
http://benton-franklin.wsu.edu/agriculture/documents/-2007SpecialtyCarrotCultivarEvaluation.pdf I have not cooked either of them as carrots are one veggie I prefer raw.

Thanks, Dill. I like carrots raw myself, often stuffing one in my back pocket for the road. On occasion I'll cut one up and serve smothered in butter though.

Thanks for the input.
Hope ya'll have a nice fire going and enjoying this cold snap down your way.

Shoe

Shoe, they lose their color when cooked. One of our restaurant customers adds vinegar or citric acid to the water to preserve the color. (works for purple cauliflower also)
We've grown 4 kinds of purple. I will have to go check the records for variety, but one kind always turned out short and stubby. The varieties were Purple Comet, Purple Haze, Johnny's Purple and Purple Dragon. We grow orange, white, yellow and purple to sell as specialty bundles. They're very pretty all bunched together.

Thanks! For years I could only grow the shorter/nubby carrots due to heavy clay soil. A couple years ago I put in boxed beds and carrots grow wonderfully well now in that looser soil.

I'll give some purple carrots a try this coming year.

Much obliged!
Shoe

The purple ones get really long and when it's time to pull them it feels like someone pulling on the other end! I took some to market last evening and they sold out in 5 minutes!

"feels like someone pulling on the other end!"

Hehehe, too funny! Kinda like pulling tomato stakes out at the end of the season.

Shoe

I appreciate all the input above, especially how to cook them and preserve the color - very helpful! I think I'll try both Purple Rain and Purple Haze to see how they compare in my garden even though it seems that Purple Rain is somewhat edging out the Haze here!