Carrots and beta-Carotene

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This post was inspired by Judy Story's Useful Tips post. Apparently, tomatoes aren't the only ones with beta-Carotene in them. So here's the thing. Carrots and beta-Carotene, why do they sound so similar? That's because beta-Carotene is named after carrots. A man named Heinrich Wilhelm Ferdinand Wackenroder discovered it while looking for chemicals in carrot juice that he could use as anti-parasitic drugs. That guy has a long name, huh? Well, be prepared for the huuuuge number of "carotenes" out there. Because there are... ...wait for it... ...there are two! TWO kinds of carotenes! They are alpha and beta. But I'll talk about them some other day!