School rivalries are funny.  Living in Texas, you get stuck in the middle of the University of Texas (school color:  burnt orange) and Texas A&M (school color:  maroon) alllll the time.  Doesn’t really seem to matter where you attend university otherwise, it’s all about the orange vs. maroon here.

So Texas A&M is world renowned for their agriculture program; well duh, it is part of their name.  They took their genius to new heights, simply trying to get one over on their school rival.  Orange carrots?  No thanks, they said.  It’s maroon or bust.

And it worked.  Leonard Pike, PhD of the Vegetable & Fruit Improvement Center developed this beautiful purple (with a lovely orange center) carrot called the BetaSweet.

The flavor is a touch sweeter than its orange counterparts and its texture a bit easier to chew (done specifically to encourage smaller children to eat more carrots = awesome).  And talk about nutritional bonus – these guys have 40% more beta carotene and super increased cancer fighting power.

I’m so in love with their great flavor (almost more ‘carrot-y’ if that makes sense) that I’ve just been slicing them into thin coins to put in my salads this week.  It was fun adding some diced orange bell pepper – kind of a game for the eyes and taste buds.

This roasted carrot recipe from Jamie Oliver looks fantastic, as does this Moroccan raw carrot salad.  So many purple-y possibilities.