The Nantes carrot, AKA Scarlet Nantes and Early Coreless carrot, is a fast maturing orange-rooted heirloom variety of carrots. There are approximately forty different carrot cultivars that fall under the Nantes variety name.

Henri Vilmorin described the Nantes carrot first in the 1885 edition of his family’s famous seed catalog as having a near perfect cylindrical root with smooth skin and entirely edible near-red flesh both sweet and mild in flavor. It has maintained these culinary virtues and qualities and continues to be a Gold standard for medium sized carrots. Its most unique characteristic is that is is both rounded at the tip of the root and at the bottom. Nantes carrots are revered for their special sweetness, crisp texture and inconspicuous core.

Serving Ideas

Nantes carrots boost the nutritional value and the flavor of soups and stews and are an indispensable, versatile and fundamental ingredients for culinary use. Young Nantes carrots are extremely sweet and tender, entirely edible and require no peeling, making them a time efficient culinary asset. Nantes carrots can be used in recipes raw, fresh and cooked. They are a quintessential salad, crudite and soup ingredient. They can eaten whole fresh, pureed into sauces, roasted and fried. Nantes carrots pair well with almonds, bacon, poultry, butter, radishes, cheeses, especially cheddar, parmesan and pecorino, cinnamon, cream, ginger, cardamon, potatoes, mushrooms, shallots, tomatoes and vinegar. Nantes carrots will keep in cool, dry storage for up to a month. Scrub thoroughly when preparing. Never store fruit along with carrots. All fruit expels ethylene gas that is readily absorbed by carrots. Carrots exposed to ethylene turn very bitter making them not suitable for eating.

Geography/History

Carrots originated over 5000 years ago in present-day Afghanistan. They were first cultivated as a purple root. Morphological characteristics lead to a division of the cultivated carrot into two botanical varieties: atrorubens and sativus. The variety, atrorubens refers to carrots originating from the East, exhibiting yellow or purple storage roots. The variety, sativus refers to carrots originating from the West with characteristically orange, yellow or sometimes white roots. In the 17th century, carrots were developed in the Netherlands with denser orange carotene pigment and these were the progenitors of the modern cultivated carrot. Nantes can be easily identified as a Western variety. It was was developed in the 1850's by Henri Vimorin. It is named after the city of Nantes, the largest and most important city in Brittany, France. Like all carrots, Nantes is a cool season crop that can tolerate temperate climates with average soil temperatures of 60 degrees F.

Seasons/Availability

Nantes carrots are available fall through spring.