Now the temperatures are dropping, the appetite for hearty root vegetables grows. Colorful carrots, hearty parsnips and root parsley are providing a welcome change in the regular menu. Autumn and winter are the seasons for fresh root vegetables from German open fields.

The most important root vegetable undoubtedly is the carrot, which in 2017 was produced on 12,545 hectares in Germany, according to the Federal Information Center for Agriculture (BZL). As a result, the acreage increased by 1,336 hectares compared to year before. Most carrots are grown on fields in North Rhine-Westphalia, followed by those of Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein and Baden-Württemberg, which together account for almost 85 percent of the acreage.

Colorful carrots
Although orange carrots account for the largest market share, new attractive varieties with white, yellow, red or purple colors, as well as bicoloured varieties, have been added in recent years. At the same time, forgotten root vegetables such as parsnips are finding their way to the German markets.