Daucus carota sativa.
A carrot that lives up to its name beautifully — long tapered roots of a brilliant solar yellow, almost golden at the heart, that bring a genuine burst of brightness to the harvest basket and the plate. A modern open-pollinated variety, selected from the old yellow lines that dominated European gardens before the orange carrot took over in the 17th century. It combines the exceptional sweetness of traditional yellow carrots with a regularity of shape and a vigour that the old varieties did not always have.
An especially mild, almost floral flavour, with less of the earthy note characteristic of orange carrots — many people who don't like the classic "carroty" taste become fans after a first meeting with Solar. Crunchy, juicy texture, high sugar content, which makes it one of the best carrots for fresh juice — extracted with a centrifuge or a slow juicer, it gives a naturally sweet golden-yellow juice that hardly needs to be cut with apple. Magnificent also roasted in caramelized sticks in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil and maple syrup, in a deep yellow velouté soup with ginger and turmeric, raw in julienne in a slaw for the colour, or simply crunched on the spot in the garden. A carrot to include in a multicolour mix (orange-yellow-purple-white) for spectacular crudité platters.
Grower's tip: Like all carrots, slow (14 to 21 days) and delicate germination. Sow on the surface (maximum 1 cm deep), water with a fine spray to avoid washing away the tiny seeds, and keep constantly moist until emergence — covering the row with a board, a row cover or a burlap sack for the first 7 to 10 days helps enormously. Soil loosened deeply (25 cm minimum), free of stones and fresh manure that would fork the root. Solar is slightly more vigorous at germination than many other yellow varieties, which makes it a good choice for gardeners wanting to try non-orange carrots for the first time.
- Open-pollinated. Biennial — flowering only occurs in the second year (overwinter for seed production).
- Top height: 30 to 40 cm.
- Maturity: 70 to 75 days.
- Exposure: full sun.
- Loose, deep (at least 25 cm) soil, sandy to loamy, free of stones and fresh manure. Thin to 5 cm.
- Direct-sow as soon as the soil can be worked (late April / early May in Québec). Possibility of a second sowing in July for fall harvest and winter storage.
