Before last weekend, I had never encountered carrots other than your basic orange variety. I stumbled upon a display of carrots including purple, white, yellow, and a red-orange at the Greenmarket and decided I needed to take a bundle home and try them out.

Overall, the flavor of each variety was pretty similar to the standard orange carrot, with the yellow a bit sweeter, the white a little bitter, and the purple tasting almost identical. You can see above that the purple carrot looked almost burnt because the color was so rich around the orange center.

Before moving on to the simple recipe, I should also note that I bought a new peeler from the famous peeler guy. He can usually be found on the corner by the top of the Greenmarket on Saturdays demonstrating a peeler that actually functions better than any other peeler I’ve used. It’s one of the best five dollars I’ve ever spent, but then again, I bought it off of a charming 74-year-old British man that was once featured in Vanity Fair and may be biased.

Simple Roasted Carrots

1. Heat oven to 400°

2. Wash and peel carrots (with peeler from British man). Cut in large diagonal pieces.

3. Place in square pan and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Add a dash of dried sage if desired.

4. Roast for 20 minutes or until tender