The colors of vegetables always fascinate me. Through our produce, we have the full visible spectrum of pigments, but many lie in the beta-carotene spectrum which controls the amount of red pigment. I find them beautiful and a reminder that our natural world provides much more variety in foodstuffs than we are used to seeing in the store. Those are usually bred for their tolerance to shipping — not flavor or beauty!
Did you know that the orange color we have all become accustomed to was actually bred by The Netherlands because their national color is orange? Carrots have come in all colors since forever, and in fact the only reason we think of carrots as just orange is because of this!
