Carrot Berlicum – Irish seeds

Famously named after the town in the Netherlands from where it originated, Carrot Berlicum is a long, cylindrical shaped, stump rooted type of carrot, suitable for maincrop production.

Appreciated by gourmet cooks and upscale markets alike, Berlicum is a very sweet early bunching carrot, similar to Nantes it produces beautiful smooth, rich orange-red roots with a small red core. It has good colour and texture, a high sugar content, fine carrot flavour and a crisp tenderness. With vigorous growth, the cylindrical stump-shaped roots, often reach up to 20cm (8in) in length in lighter soils.

Berlicum is suitable for early forcing in cold frames and for early cropping but is equally good when mature. It can be used for bunching, slicing and dicing from October and through the winter. The roots tend to stay tender and not get woody. Sow successionally from February to August for harvesting June to January.
Berlicum has stronger tops, is resistant to alternaria (carrot blight) and to splitting. It also has some autumn frost resistance and stores well. 65 days from sowing to maturity. Carrots, like many other root vegetables, are highly prone to pesticide residue and other farm chemicals, especially nitrates. Therefore, it is wiser to shop organic or better still to grow them yourself. The flavour is vastly superior in the organically grown carrot, tasting like carrots should rather than “orange cardboard”. Home grown carrots do not need peeling, a decided advantage since most of the nutrients lie just under the surface.