Overall, creating new varieties of vegetables can be a time-consuming and complex process, but it is an important way to improve the quality and diversity of our food supply and bring about delicious (and exciting) new varieties!
1. Selecting parent plants: The first step in creating a new variety of vegetables is to select two parent plants with the right traits. These parent plants can come from existing varieties or from wild plants that have the right characteristics, in our case, these were smaller carrots with a sweeter taste that grow naturally well in particular climate and soil conditions.
2. Crossbreeding: Once the 'parent veggies' have been selected, they are crossbred to produce offspring that inherit traits from both parents. This is typically done by manually transferring pollen from the male parent to the female parent. So it's a natural process that we help along!
3. Selection: We then check the 'offspring' carrots for the optimal traits - are they the right size, crispness and sweetness? The carrots with the most desirable traits are selected for further breeding.
4. Repeated breeding and selection: The selected carrots are then bred with other carrots that also have these desirable traits, and the process of selection is repeated over several generations. This helps to stabilize these characteristics (to ensure they are consistently achieved) and eliminate undesirable traits (eg. too small or large or bitter taste)
5. Testing: Once the desired traits are stabilized, the new variety is tested to ensure that it performs well under a variety of conditions and is suitable for consumers, meeting expectations in taste and quality.
6. Release: Once the new variety has been thoroughly tested and found to be successful, it can be released to the market.