They will be 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) long, about 1 ¼ inches (3 cm) wide, and a deep orange colour.
They are crisp, and have a sweet, mild flavour with a fine, tender core.
Some varieties that naturally grow much shorter, only up to 4 inches (10 cm), are sold as baby carrots.
Nantes Carrots are more popular in Europe than in North America. Though the flavour has been praised in North America, they are not grown commercially because they don’t store particularly well. They tend to split or crack when machine-harvested, and don’t survive shipping well.
Varieties include A & C Nantes, Bolero, Caro-Brite, Caropak, Earlibird Nantes, Favor, Forto Selection, Meteor-Rondino, Mokum, Nantes Coreless, Nantes Half Long, Napa, Napoli, Narova, P-Nice F1, Presto, PSX 18286, Special Nantes 616, Starca F1, Sytan, Tamino and Touchon.
Cooking Tips
Nantes Carrots don’t hold their shape well when cooked because they have a lot of water in them.
History Notes
Nantes Carrots are presumed to have been developed in Nante, France. They appeared in American seed catalogues by 1870.