Have you ever wondered who thought about digging up an orange root vegetable and tasting it? Well someone did and now we have carrots. Carrots are a wonderful source of vitamin A; one medium carrot can provide twice the daily recommended value.

Low in fat, cholesterol free and low in sodium carrots make for a wonderful snack and healthy addition to meals. Salads can easily be garnished with carrot strips created by pealing clean dry carrots with a potato peeler. If you place the carrot strips in the microwave for 30 seconds with a tablespoon of water you can easily curl the strips for added flair. This is a wonderful way to introduce carrots to young children.

To make carrots extra enticing to picky eaters try serving carrot flowers. Run a fork length wise down a peeled carrot and then slice ½ inch slices width wise. The fork will create grooves and give the appearance of flower petals.

When buying carrots look for carrots that are bright orange to orange-red in color. The tops should be a rich dark green with no yellowing around the edges. Once home trim the green tops then rinse and drain the carrots and store in a large sealed plastic bag. Carrots will keep in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator for up to three weeks. When the carrots begin to get limp they are getting old and should be used immediately or replaced with fresh carrots.