Jello Offered ‘Carrot Pie’ Flavored Gelatin – In 1930

National Carrot Cake Day on February 3rd, America celebrates one of its favorite flavors of cake. In the carrot cake, we get to eat our cake and veggies, too!

• 900s – The Moors introduced carrots to the Spanish.
• Middle Ages – During this time, when sweeteners were expensive and scarce, the people of Europe got creative with recipes and used some of the sweeter vegetables to make puddings. Carrot pudding is one of these desserts and is probably the predecessor to Carrot Cake
• 1538 – The word “carrot” comes from the Greek word “karoton.” The beta-carotene that is found in carrots was actually named for the carrot itself.
• The word carrot is first recorded in English in a 1538 book of herbs.
• 1591 – Published in 1591, there is an English recipe for “pudding in a Carret(sic) root” that is essentially a stuffed carrot with meat, but it includes many elements common to the modern dessert
• 1600s – There are many reports that the Dutch first cultivated orange carrots during the 17th Century.
• 16th and 17th centuries – carrot pudding was being served either as a savory side dish or a sweet pudding with an egg custard. This would have been baked inside a pastry tart, like a pumpkin pie, and served with a sauce
• 1783 – Reportedly made by Sam Fraunces, proprietor of Fraunces Tavern, a Carrot Tea Cake was served to George Washington a few years before his first term as US president, on British Evacuation Day. The recipe for this type of cake continues to be used 200 years later and is served with fresh whipped cream rather than frosting
• 1814 – In volume two of “L’art du cuisinier” (1814), Antoine Beauvilliers, former chef to Louis XVI, included a recipe for a “Gâteau de Carottes”, which was popular enough to be copied verbatim in competitors’ cookbooks.
• 1824 – Beauvilliers published in London an English version of his cookbook, which includes a recipe for “Carrot Cakes” in a literal translation of his earlier recipe.
• 1827 – The earliest known recipe for carrot cake was published in Britain, inside a French cookbook
• 1930s – Jello offered ‘carrot pie’ flavored gelatin.
• 1940 – The British government encouraged citizens to use carrots as a replacement for sugar and other sweeteners, which were in short supply during the war. The government suggested using carrots in cakes and puddings.
• 1941 – British scientists developed a special radar system, to help the Royal Airforce spot Luftwaffe planes at night. To keep it a secret, the government ran ad campaigns for citizens to eat more carrots. The reason? The ads claimed carrots helped you see at night. The German command fell for the plot and the result was a skyrocket in the sale of carrots (and the making of carrot cakes) and the end of the Blitz in May of that year.
• 1960s – Carrot cake became a popular dessert at dinner tables across America.
• 1970 – The explosion in popularity of carrot cake — an iced spice cake that includes carrots — can be attributed to the dieting craze of the 1970s.
• Carrot cake is a cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter.
• The carrot’s natural sweetness may have been selected as a substitute in the Middle Ages when sugar was hard to find or expensive. Carrot cake most likely developed from a carrot pudding which could be savory or sweet.
• During periods in history when access to sugar was nonexistent or very hard to come by, people have used sweet vegetables to make their desserts. During World War II, the government of Britain needed to ration food and luxury items to their population.
• During the war, the Ministry of Food in Britain encouraged people to try many different recipes that used carrots as a sweetener. They suggested carrot cakes, carrot puddings, and carrot-filled pies! It is also worth noting that carrot-sweetened confections are healthier for you.
• A cookbook was compiled to record and honor early American recipes. The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook was created by Mary Donovan, Amy Hatrack, and Frances Schull. In this book, they offer the exact recipe for President Washington’s favorite.
• Carrots were first cultivated in North Africa & the Mediterranean. They originally were purple or grey in color. Introduced to Europe around 1000 years ago.
• The weed/flower “Queen Anne’s Lace” is a wild carrot.
• People first grew carrots as medicine, not food, for a variety of ailments.
• Carrots are one of the rare vegetables that are more nutritious cooked than raw.
• Eating carrots has a host of health benefits. Research shows they can reduce cancer risk, slow the aging process, flush toxins from your body, and improve the health of your teeth and gums. They can also improve your skin and help prevent infection.
• Eating too many carrots can cause a person’s skin to turn yellowish orange, especially on the palms or soles of the feet. This is called carotenemia. It is completely reversible once the consumption of carrots is reduced.
• The old adage is true: Eating carrots can improve your vision. Carrots contain lots of beta-carotene, which the liver converts to vitamin A, which then gets converted to rhodopsin in the retina — and that gives you better night vision.
• They are a member of the Umbelliferae family, which also includes celery, parsley, dill, cilantro, caraway, cumin, and the poisonous hemlock.
• Cultivated carrots are usually made up of about 88% water, 7% sugar, 1% protein, 1% fiber, 1% ash, and 0.2% fat.
• Orange carrots get their color from beta-carotene.
• They have more beta carotene than any other vegetable. One cup of carrots has 16,679 IU of beta-carotene.
• The world’s largest carrot producer is China, which in 2011, accounted for over 45% of the global output.
• There are around 350 calories in a piece of carrot cake with icing.
• Five types of carrots:
  • Chantenay carrots are short, fat, and need to be harvested when they reach five to six inches in length.
  • Nantes are so named because they come from the Nantes region in France, which has the perfect weather for growing them.
  • Imperators are the most commercially available carrots — they have a higher sugar content than other carrots.
  • Danvers. Cultivated in Danvers, Massachusetts, this is the classic long, skinny, orange carrot.
  • Ball or Mini. Shaped like radishes, the ball or mini only reaches three to four inches in length and is usually served whole.

Sources:

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