baby carrot

Noun

baby carrot (plural baby carrots)

1. A carrot harvested and sold when immature and of a small size.
   • The baby carrots and the little rosebud beets which are being thinned out of the garden should be canned at the present time.1916 September, T. J. Newbill, “Canning Vegetables by the Cold-pack Process”, in Monthly Bulletin, volume 4, number 6, Puyallup, Wash.: Western Washington Experiment Station, page 334
   • Harvested as baby carrots, these varieties, planted early in the season, averaged 74 micrograms of carotene per gram of sample (range by varieties, 70 to 85 micrograms); corresponding samples harvested as mature carrots of at least 2 inches crown diameter averaged 180 micrograms per gram (range...1944 March, Georgian Adams, Sybil L. Smith, Experiment Station Research on the Vitamin Content and the Preservation of Foods (United States Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication; no....
2. A small finger-shaped piece of carrot cut from a full-sized carrot.
   • The California carrot production industry developed a high value "cut and peel" or "baby" carrot product using higher quality, more slender 'Imperator' type hybrids that was immensely popular at retail.2007, Philip W. Simon et al., “Carrot”, in Jaime Prohens, Fernando Nuez, editors, Vegetables II: Fabaceae, Liliaceae, Solanaceae, and Umbelliferae (Handbook of Plant Breeding), New York, N.Y....
   • Baby carrots aren't just ordinary carrots cut down to size. […] They are made from a special variety of carrot that is cut down to the baby carrot size. They're delicious eaten cooked or raw.2008, Linda Larsen, “Side Dishes”, in The Everything Food Allergy Cookbook: Prepare Easy-to-make meals—without Nuts, Milk, Wheat, Eggs, Fish or Soy, Avon, Mass.: Adams Media, →ISBN, page 253