ISSUE 70, EXTRAORDINARY VEGETABLES, Part 2: Imperator Carrot
Imperator Carrot
In the second quarter of the 20th century California had taken over the national vegetable market. Nearly every category of produce had one or two California-grown varieties that dominated markets. The orange almost conical Chantenay Carrot had installed itself in grocers’ minds at the carrot of choice to feature in displays, because of its modernistic geometry. The Chantenay did not do well in southern and eastern fields, so the Associated Seed Growers, Inc., a new style plant breeding combine headquartered in Connecticut and employing state-of-the-art genetic research for the 1920s and ‘30s, determined to create an alternative to the West Coast carrot.
They determined on a number of traits that they believed desirable: a longer, tapered shape more like an icicle than a cone; a minimum of woody core; absence of fibrous material in the meat of the carrot; intense carotene concentrations and orange coloration; a top that was middling in size and not too effusive in growth. Length proved the most difficult element to achieve of their desired traits. They wanted nine inches. They settled for eight with a top width of one and one-half inches. In 1932 they believed that had a carrot that was tender enough, large enough, and sufficiently attractive to compete in the country’s produce bins. They wanted it to conquer the market. The named it Imperator.
In 1932 a Consortium of Growers and Breeders, in order to highlight the quality of American-bred vegetables and Flowers, instituted a contest: the All American Selections, awarded to the most outstanding new introductions produced by American growers during a calendar year. Anything introduced in 1932 would have the 1933 All American designation bestowed upon it. Associated Seed Growers had an array of new vegetables that they had developed: the Imperator Carrot, the Clark’s Special Cucumber, the Stringless Black Valentine Bean, and the Stringless Green Pod Bean. All appeared on the winner’s list during the first year of the All-America Selections, and the last of these proved to be a consequential breeding development, inaugurating the age of the stringless green bean.
Yet for steady selling excellence, no new introduction on the 1933 AAS awards list had the staying power of the Imperator. It became the public image of what a carrot should look like—long, orange, and tapered to a fine point. If you have eaten orange carrots in the United States during your lifetime, odds are you have tasted the Imperator. Seeds remain widely available.