Katie Herring is sales and marketing manager for Cultivate fruit and veg co-operative

IT FINALLY feels like the hungry gap is behind us: asparagus is here and we’re seeing new produce come into the Cultivate barn every week.

The newest addition to our veggie line-up is some beautiful bunched carrots.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that carrots don’t really have a season as they’re available all year round, but in truth the UK carrots you’ll have been eating for the last few months have actually been kept in storage since their harvest last winter.

Carrots and other roots are capable of holding their flavour and nutritional content if stored in the right conditions, which means we can enjoy them for extended periods, but it has to be said you can’t beat them fresh from the ground.

That’s why this time of year is a great time to be buying carrots as the early crop varieties start coming through.

For me the carrot is the perfect symbol for organic vegetable growing: it’s one of the vegetables you can really taste the difference in. Cultivate customers rave about their superior flavour and sweetness. I think that must be why local organic growers, Westmill Organics and Sandy Lane Farm feature carrots in their logos. In fact if you ever pay a visit to Pete over at Westmill you’ll see a giant wooden carrot marking the entrance to the farm.

Despite it being a myth that they help you see in the dark, carrots are still fantastically nutritious and a great source of beta-carotene, fibre, vitamin K, potassium and antioxidants. They hold most of these just under the skin so avoid peeling organic carrots: just give them a light scrub to remove the soil and you’re good to go. The same cannot be said for non-organic varieties, as the skin also tends to be where the pesticide residues can be found and it’s recommend you peel them if looking to reduce the amount of pesticides you consume.

Far less effort to prepare and way more tasty, organic carrots are a total win, I’m looking forward to roasting mine whole with a drizzle of local honey to bring out their sweet flavour.