The Original Carrot Color: Orange or Purple?

Most people would associate carrots with the color orange and would never dream of seeing this root vegetable in another color. What most people don't know is that the first cultivated carrots were purple or yellow. Around one thousand years ago, carrots spread to the eastern Mediterranean after being grown and domesticated in Afghanistan. Purple carrots, along with yellow, red, and white ones, were prevalent in the Middle East and other parts of Asia. Around the 1500s, orange carrots were recorded in Italy, Spain, and Germany.