Media release

From: The Royal Society

• Curling carrots – Scientists have cracked why cut carrots curl – could it be the secret to perfect crudites at this year's summer garden party? Root vegetables curl when cut lengthways due to residual stress, and the phenomenon is seen more in carrots that are oxidised. The authors suggest storing carrots in ‘cold, moist and airtight environments’ could maintain carrot (and maybe hummus dipping) integrity and potentially cut food waste. Royal Society Open Science.

Modelling of longitudinally cut carrot curling induced by the vascular cylinder-cortex interference pressure

Royal Society Open Science

Cut carrots curl over time due to residual stresses from coinciding layers, which limits their shelf life and causes wastage. A compound cylinder solution was used to explore this behaviour. 100 cut Lancashire Nantes carrots were characterised using image processing techniques and used to derive a mathematical model. A 1.32x reduced elastic modulus after a week was observed. Curvature was evaluated by comparison to a finite element model. Carrots which were oxidised exhibited higher decay in stiffness. Carrots are recommended to be stored in humidity-controlled environments. The research further created a methodology to predict deformation in cut root vegetables.