Carrots are orange, right? Well, not always! Up until the 1500s, carrots were mostly purple or yellow, and orange ones didn’t even exist. The purple carrots date back to ancient Persia in the 10th century, where they were prized for their deep color and earthy flavor. But they had a downside—they’d stain everything, from cooking pots to clothes, making them a bit of a hassle in the kitchen. Yellow carrots were around too, but they weren’t as common and often tasted bitter.

So how did we get the orange carrots we know today? In the late 1500s, Dutch farmers started crossbreeding yellow carrots to create a new variety that was sweeter, less bitter, and—most importantly—didn’t stain. The result was the orange carrot, which they perfected by the 1590s. Some say the Dutch bred them orange to honor their national color during the fight for independence from Spain, but that’s more legend than fact. The real reason was practical: orange carrots were tastier and easier to grow. They also packed more beta-carotene, which gives them their bright hue and makes them better for your eyesight—hence the old saying about carrots helping you see in the dark.

By the 1600s, orange carrots took over, and purple ones faded into obscurity until they were rediscovered in the 20th century. Today, you can find carrots in all sorts of colors—purple, yellow, even red—at farmers’ markets, but orange still rules the supermarket. Fun fact: beta-carotene is also why carrots can turn your skin orange if you eat too many, a harmless condition called carotenemia. So next time you munch on a carrot stick, remember you’re eating a veggie with a colorful history that’s been orange for only a fraction of its life.