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Why do my Carrots taste weird?
CraighB
Posts: 758
in Fruit & veg
Hi guys,
I'm new to growing veg and I have grown some Chantenay red cores 2 carrots in plastic pots. They have grown fantastically and look amazing however when I pulled them from the container they had a strange smell like aniseed. They smelled very tangy!
So I ate one and they did indeed taste very aniseed like and had a weird tang to them. Almost tasted like chemicals. It's hard to describe.
Is this normal? I grew them in John innes mixed with 25% perlite and I didn't use any fertilizer.
Why do they taste like this?
Thanks 
0
Posts
Thanks for the replies.
I definitely agree with you all on the fact they taste so much stronger than shop bought ones!
I am going to try and leave them out for a few days like you said pansy face because when I pulled them out of the pot I was surprised at how strong the smell was! But it wasn't a nice smell. I really hard to describe but actually thinking about it yes I suppose it was soapy and it tasted exactly how it smelt! Left quite an unpleasant taste in my mouth.
Pansyface, is this true of root vegetables in general? This year it's looking as though we'll be eating home grown beets for the first time, should I dig them a day or two before we want them?
Thanks, that makes sense.
Beetroot? I pull mine from the allotment, simmer for an hour, leave to cool, peel, slice and fridge - blooming DELICIOUS!!! I see no reason to leave them or carrots for that matter - I eat mine an hour after picking sometimes - they make supermarket carrots taste like cardboard
Don't forget to use the beetroot leaves in your salad too!
Last edited: 18 July 2017 20:22:18
I find that carrots do sometimes have a very strange chemicaly taste when homegrown, though I have not found it in any other root vegetable. It seems to be related to any green top they may have, so try just the bottom on it's own and see if that still has it, very young carrots are more likely in my experance to have it as well. I've not found it in my mature carrots.
Maybe I picked them too early then?
I might let the others mature a bit more to see if there is a difference. I'm also going to leave them out for a few days after being picked to see if the chemical smell and taste mellows.