Horse carrots?

[HeyWayne]

Out and about on Saturday, and we drove past a farm that always has a sign outside advertising potatoes for sale, or eggs - that kind of thing. This time however they have a sign that says "horse carrots for sale".

Are these carrots especially grown for horses?

Would a numan bean end up unwell if they ate horse carrots?

Are they especially large?

[Hans Mum]

At our local horsey place where i get my chook stuff has sacks of them & they look fine to eat, tend to be very big or broken, probably what the supermarkets dont want as they're not perfick

[shirlthegirl43]

I used to buy these for my horses and asked at the store why they were specifically sold as for horses. I was informed that they had not been stored where they could be guaranteed unspoiled by vermin. Put me off eating them anyway

[SlugLobber]

In the days when I used to buy them by the sack, I didn't buy my own supply, just nicked them from the hosses. They're just mis-shapen. As far as I know, carrots of all sorts are stored at some point where they could be 'got at' by nibblers, so that never put me off. I can't say they're sold specifically as 'horse carrots' round here, either. Just as large quantities, rather than a little bag!

[Bigmallly]

Part of a publication I found:

There is a carrot type for everyone. Horse carrots are big, irregularly shaped orange carrots, sometimes with splits in them. Horse carrots tend to be older and more fibrous, making them good for long cooking, as in soups or stews.

[OverWyreGrower]

We eat 'pony carrots'!

They tend to be a bit smaller or misshapen, rather than the nice regular supermarket carrots and occasionally they are a little bit nibbled (like the ones I get from my garden!!). However, we've never had any problems eating them.

[ginger ninger]

There sold near use a well, the farm also has "Pig" tatties, OH bought some pig tatties once, there was nothing wrong with them after they'd been pealed and washed, we go through a lot of tatties and haven't enough room to grow lots, so at £1.50 a BIG sack...I'd use them again.

[Scottishnewbie]

in the winter the only carrots i buy are the ones by the sack sold for the horses. at £3 for an enormous bag, they are dead cheap, make lovely soups and casseroles, stews, etc, etc and no-one had died yet!

[Tomatoking]

Aren't you all lucky, being able to buy cheap carrots in sacks for your horses! I wish I could find a supplier here in Brittany, have asked in loads of places and no, they don't seem to sell them in this area. So I end up buying them in plastic kg bags in the supermarkets here, so have to shop around for the cheapest and 'promo's'. They do have the carrots in sand in small 5kg boxes, but I'm not keen on these. Luckily though, have found an excellent local apple supplier for my 'girls' and buy a big (and I mean big!) carton which costs around 4.50 euros and the apples are gorgeous!
Mrs TK

[Snadger]

Lidl's carrot seeds are what I would call horse carrots. A selectred strain of Autumn King methinks that grow huge. I have some growing and they are really tasty!

[bluemoon]

When my kids were little and I was a stay at home mum and OH was near the bottom of the career ladder we'd buy horse carrots for stews because 1, they were cheap and 2, they lasted longer than supermarket ones which would turn soft and black within a couple of days. I didn't know about the vermin thing though.

[Reb Williams]

If you cook them for ages in a stew I'm sure all the verminy horribleness will be made safe. Ah, I can hear my mum now... that's just a bit of manure, it won't hurt you...

Reb
____________________________
a childhood surviving the Good Life - now in bookshops - Grow Your Own Cows

[Flummery]

I've eaten them. They are great. Mucky carrots and spuds keep better I reckon. They also taste more carrotty than the supermarket efforts.

[sarraceniac]

Believe it or not it is the good old EU that forces these to be sold as 'horse carrots'. They are just not standard lengths and thickness. It's the same thing as straight bananas and British chocolate, which isn't chocolate because it contains too much vegetable fat, although we did win on that one and didn't have to start buying Cadbury's vegetable fat bars.

My dog loves fresh tripe and that is marketed as 'Suitable for working dogs only'. The most energetic thing my dog does is snore very loudly but apparently if it is sold for house pooches then they have to charge VAT on it. Working dogs are VAT exempt. I just love red tape.

[Glutton4...]

They're £2.80 a bag round here - and some of the carrots are enormous. I adore carrots, and have been known to eat them too. I always make sure they're scrubbed well first (I've seen what runs around our yard ) Occasionally, they bung huge parsnips in with some of them to make up the weight, consequently my Horse now loves parsnips too. I sometimes buy him a huge swede to play with in his stable.