1941 Wartime Photos: Carrot on a Stick

[Dumbo]

1941 pics of a Brit wartime delicacy: Carrot on Sticks
http://www.retronaut.co/2012/06/carrots-on-sticks-1941/

I don't think i've seen carrots that big. Half a carrot is just about the size of the kids head!

[OGrubber]

Don't get it.
Is the attraction because it's on a stick?

[B_BQ]

I suspect it's not a 'real' carrot - but coloured ice cream or sorbet put into a carrot-shaped mould.
~BBQ

[Dumbo]

no clue to be honest. Spotted it and it looked strange. So figured i'd post it hoping someone would comment on that.

You think so BBQ? The "carrot-on-a-stick" even looks like it was peeled, except about the last inch of it near the stick.

You can see the kids bite into it. Surely they would get an ice cream headache and know better. No?

So I have my doubts that it's ice cream.

EDIT:
There are various comments around the net on what this is. The best I could find is this:

-It's boiled carrot, a stick shoved in it, and then chilled.

Seems the UK mail ran this story a little over a month ago. It does indeed appear to be carrot:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1yMH0q4Fy

Seems the Brits promoted carrot as a sugar substitute.

If you watch the wartime movie that the pictures are taken from, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lmNyoxu ... r_embedded, you will see people digging. The UK mail implies they are digging up carrots.

EDIT 2:
The title of the war time film is Easter.
The UK mail seems to imply that instead of chocolate (sugar was going to the war effort), kids got a frickin lousey carrot on a stick for Easter! LOL

I'm going to try that with my kids this weekend. But carrots like that don't exist where I am.

[davefrombc]

Be very careful if you turn your back after giving your kids a carrot on a stick. Do NOT bend over to pick up anything. You might get the carrot back .

[Dumbo]

For the record, Dave diverted.

lol Dave, I will try it and then tell the kids this is their reward for doing good at school all year long. Carrot-on-stick? Carrot-through-eyeball-into-brain is what I expect to get.

But seriously, how come we don't have carrots like that?

[Dumbo]

Don't get it.
Is the attraction because it's on a stick?

From what I am reading from various comments, this is:
Carrots grown and left in the ground (like winter storage).
When the carrot is left like this in the ground, the sugars concentrate in it.
Thus the reason the Brit Empire chose it as a sugar substitute during the war.

Little kids, like in those picture, never heard of ice cream since there was none for the common folk during war time (sugar rationing). So young kids only knew the sweet treat, Carrot-on-a-stick.

I'd love to know what type of carrot that is!

EDIT:
At least this is the story I am led to believe. Is it true? You need to contact the UK war archives or something to find out...

[OGrubber]

A guess - a heavy nantes.
The nantes can be very sweet after storage.

[Dumbo]

I suspect it's not a 'real' carrot - but coloured ice cream or sorbet put into a carrot-shaped mould.
~BBQ

See the lines striking out "ices" in the picture? Not available it seems.

Striked out

[davefrombc]

Marc.. Plant the large Nantes variety and leave them in the ground long after you would normally harvest them . You can get some huge carrots . You won't find any like that in the grocery store, but lots are grown huge for animal fodder and the commercial processing industry.