A baby carrot is an immature carrot

Carrot

The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...

; a baby cut carrot, known as a "baby carrot", is a mature carrot that has been cut and peeled in the "baby-cut" style.

Baby carrots

The immature roots of the carrot plant are sometimes harvested simply as the result of crop thinning

Thinning

Thinning is a term used in agricultural sciences to mean the removal of some plants, or parts of plants, to make room for the growth of others.- Forestry :...

, but are also grown to this size as a specialty crop. Certain cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

s of carrots have been bred to be used at the "baby" stage. One such cultivar is 'Amsterdam Forcing'. This process was developed at Beechnut Farms, bought by Zellwin Farms. These farms originally developed food for WWII, but wanted to sell food for civilians. A team of two led the research. From an interview, they were originally to be called "carettes". According to Dole

Dole Food Company

Dole Food Company, Inc. is an American-based agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Westlake Village, California. The company is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, operating with 74,300 full-time and seasonal employees who are responsible for over 300...

, baby carrots are sweeter and more tender than full-grown carrots.

"Baby-cut" carrots

Taking fully grown carrots and cutting them to make them smaller was the idea of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 farmer Mike Yurosek

Mike Yurosek

Mike Yurosek was a California farmer known as the "father of the baby carrot".While the "baby carrot" is extremely popular in the United States it is not a separate breed but a way of processing regular full-sized carrots to increase utilization and decrease waste.Mike Yurosek and his son David...

. Yurosek was unhappy at having to discard carrots because of slight rotting or imperfections, and looked for a way to reclaim what would otherwise be a waste product. He was able to acquire an industrial green bean cutter, which cut his carrots into two lengths, and by placing these lengths into a potato peeler, he created the original baby carrot, branded "Bunny-Luv".

In 2006, nearly three-quarters of the fresh baby-cut carrots produced in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 came from Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....

. Bolthouse Farms

Bolthouse Farms

Bolthouse Farms, founded 1915 in Grant, Michigan, is a vertically integrated farm company located in California's San Joaquin Valley and headquartered in Bakersfield, California. The company still operates some facilities in Prosser, Washington, but shut down operations in Michigan in June 2010...

 and Grimmway Farms

Grimmway Farms

Grimmway Farms was started by the Grimm brothers in the southern San Joaquin Valley in central California in the 1960s. Grimmway is the largest grower, producer, and shipper of carrots in the world. Along with carrots, Grimmway Farms produces potatoes, citrus, and carrot juice varieties...

 are the world's two largest growers, processors, and shippers of baby-cut carrots. The Green Giant

Green Giant

Green Giant and Le Sueur are brands of frozen and canned vegetables owned by General Mills. The mascot of Green Giant is the Jolly Green Giant....

 company, which resells carrots from Bolthouse Farms, markets their product as "baby cut carrots."

Marketing

In September 2010 a marketing initiative was launched by a group of nearly 50 carrot producers led by Bolthouse Farms (calling themselves "A Bunch of Carrot Farmers") sought to promote baby-cut carrots as an alternative to “junk food

Junk food

Junk food is an informal term applied to some foods that are perceived to have little or no nutritional value ; to products with nutritional value, but which also have ingredients considered unhealthy when regularly eaten; or to those considered unhealthy to consume at all...

”. The campaign mimicked tactics typically employed by snack food marketers, including snack-food-like packaging; futuristic, sexual, and extreme sports-themed TV commercials; carrot vending machines in schools; and an iPhone

IPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

game and website.