Nutritional value and functional food processing of carrots

01
Analysis of Carrots and Their Planting Development

Carrots are the most common nutritional vegetable and belong to the two-year herbaceous crop. They have a feathered compound leaf shape, white small flowers, long round fruits, and conical roots. Due to their fleshy roots, the main nutritional part of the plant is concentrated. Therefore, the edible part of carrots is in the roots, which have various colors such as purple red, orange red, and yellow.

Carrots are a semi cold crop that prefers to be cold and cool. They are suitable for planting in cold and cool areas with an altitude of 1000-1500m and an average annual temperature of 3-7 ℃. Carrots need to be watered during the seedling and root enlargement stages, but they save more than 50% of water compared to fruit vegetables. The soil requirements are suitable for sandy loam, light loam, black calcareous soil, etc. The fertilizer requirements are mainly organic fertilizers, so the soil requirements for carrots are low.

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02
The main nutritional components of carrots

The main nutritional component of carrots is carotene, and research has shown that the content of carotene is as high as 9-13mg/lO0g. Carotene, also known as lutein, is an organic compound that produces deep purple or deep red crystals. Carotene can be converted into Vitamin A in the human body.
Carrots also contain a large amount of carotenoids, bifidogenic factors, and nucleic acid substances, which have unique therapeutic effects on enhancing immunity, reducing oxygen free damage, resisting gene mutations, protecting intestinal mucosa, and proliferating intestinal probiotics. In addition, due to the fact that carrots are a root food, they absorb minerals and trace elements necessary for human growth in the soil, which are also more abundant than other vegetables. For example, in the famous selenium rich region of Enshi Autonomous Prefecture in China, after testing, the selenium content of carrots reaches 0.5ppm, which is 0.2-0.3ppm higher than other vegetables and fruits in the same region.

From this, it can be seen that carrots, with carotene as the main nutritional component, not only contain various nutrients necessary for human growth and development, but also have many special pharmacological effects. Carotenoids and their highly concentrated carrot juice are widely used and needed in preventive medicine, clinical medicine, and military medicine.

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03
Processing and Development of Natural Carrot Food

Looking at the current research status of carrot processing and development in China, the processing and development of carrots mainly focus on the following two aspects:

3.1 is directly processed and produced into health drinks and concentrated foods

For example, carrot extract, carrot paste, etc., this type of development belongs to direct processing, with low cost, low process requirements, and great market potential. The developed products can be used not only as health drinks and seasoning foods, but also as raw materials for further processing and extracting carotenoids and "carrot gut microbiota regulators" for prevention and clinical medicine. Its prospects are very broad.
The direct processing and production of carrot health food and beverages currently have significant limitations. Firstly, in terms of taste, there is still a certain degree of ambiguity, as the juice processed from it cannot match the taste of various fruit juices.
This undoubtedly affects the market share of carrot processed foods. The industrial raw material processing technology and equipment of carrot extract have not yet kept up. Currently, the fruit juice products and equipment used in the international carrot juice extraction process are only suitable for thin cell fruit pulp and concentrated juice products with the goal of extracting soluble components. Carrots belong to root vegetables, with developed intercellular matrix and solid cell walls, and carotene is a fat soluble component rather than a water-soluble component. The historical fruit processing technology and equipment used to process carrots have resulted in a lower extraction rate of carotene.

3.2 Processing of Carrot Medicinal Products-- β- Carotene extraction

The "efficient stage" of carrot processing is to extract concentrated carrot juice as raw material β- Carotenoids. Currently, internationally used β The vast majority of carotenoids are chemically synthesized carotenoid tablets. However, studies have shown that pure chemical preparations are fundamentally different from natural foods rich in this substance. The functions of natural foods are often the result of the synthesis of their own transfer substances. Therefore, when taking carotenoid tablets does not help prevent cancer, extracting carotenoids from natural carrot juice is necessary β One carotene has enormous market potential. This process is still under further development.

Shaanxi Huike Botanical Development Co., Ltd. a integrated enterprise which is focus on natural products, plant extract related products and services.We mainly focus on pharmaceutical, functional food, Freeze-dried powder,Natural Pigment,Homology of medicine and food,beverages and other business services.
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2024-05-08

Shaanxi Huike Botanical Development Co., Ltd.

Nutritional value and functional food processing of carrots

01 Analysis of Carrots and Their Planting Development

02 The main nutritional components of carrots

03 Processing and Development of Natural Carrot Food

3.1 is directly processed and produced into health drinks and concentrated foods

3.2 Processing of Carrot Medicinal Products-- β- Carotene extraction

01
Analysis of Carrots and Their Planting Development

02
The main nutritional components of carrots

03
Processing and Development of Natural Carrot Food