Carrot Tops

[LittlePuffyTail]

My buns love carrot tops but I’m sort of concerned about pesticides. I figure since humans don’t eat the tops there may be pesticides or something on them that makes them unhealthy? What do you think? Do you feed grocery store carrot tops? I would buy organic if that were an option but I’ve never seen organic bunched carrots. I can’t wait for my carrot tops in the garden to get big enough to pick.

[Sarita]

I have fed carrot tops in the past when I bought the carrots with tops on them. I really don’t worry about pesticides too much – I mean you just cannot worry about every little thing and it’s in the market and deemed safe for human consumption it should be safe for our rabbits. You just have to do your due diligence and wash them.

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

My stores around here don’t sell carrot tops but when i go to my aunts house 2 hours away i always go to the store and buy some my bunnies love them and will eat them up so fast. As far as pesticides not sure about that. My bunnies just love carrot tops wish they were sold wehre I live.

[Elrohwen]

Everything has pesticides on it (unless it’s organic, of course), so don’t worry about carrot tops any more than you would anything else. Just make sure you wash them first. There’s nothing that makes them unsafe for human consumption – humans just don’t choose to eat them (we usually don’t eat beet or radish greens either, but they’re perfectly edible and some people love them).

[RabbitPam]

And I’m seeing them more and more in my local grocery stores and fresh markets, so if they’re being sold there, they are safe for all consumption after a thorough washing.

[tobyluv]

Actually, some humans do eat the carrot tops. I was talking to a clerk at a natural foods store one day when I was buying carrot tops and she said that some people use them in a juicer, when they are making their vegetable and fruit juice drinks.

My rabbits love carrot tops and I get dismayed a lot of times when I see them at the stores and they are not fresh enough to buy. There is one store that usually chops them off and just puts the bunch of carrots out. That really irritates me and I spoke to the produce man about it one day. The next time I was in there, he remembered me and gave me a bag of all the tops they had cut off and hadn’t thrown away yet. It only happened that one time, but it was nice to get free greens.

I usually try to grow my own carrot tops, but there are some times of the year when I am unable to grow them, so I have to try to find good ones in the stores.

[LoveChaCha]

My work sells organic carrot bunches.. with.. carrot tops.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Well I’m glad about your responses because my buns love them and gobble them up first when I offer them with a meal.

Often when I’m buying carrots (obviously I look for the biggest, most beautiful tops, I really don’t care about the carrots) there are bunches of tops that people rip off and just leave there and I stash them in the bag with the bunch of carrots I’m buying. I always mention it to the cashiers that I take the ripped-off ones for my rabbits. It would be great to work in a grocery store for that purpose!

[Stickerbunny]

Any food sold in a store is deemed safe for human consumption – even the skins/tops of veggies. Orange rinds for example are used in cooking, etc. Apples would be worse as far as pesticides go (they rate one of the highest in pesticide content) than carrot tops. I wish my store sold carrots like that they just have the baby carrots pre-bagged.

[MimzMum]

Mimzy’s favorite is carrot tops. I only have to be careful not to feed too many (yes, they are organic) because he gets a bit of urine sludge from them.

[Elrohwen]

I hate how carrot tops go bad so quickly 🙁 I bought some carrots for a recipe and gave the tops to the rabbits, but after a few days they were getting dried out and Hannah would leave half of the carrot tops on the floor of the pen. Picky bunny!

[Monkeybun]

I found if I put a slightly damp paper towel in with them, they stay fresher longer.

[Elrohwen]

That’s a good idea, MB. I didn’t think of that (well, I mostly thought I’d use them all up before they dried out). Now I just have some carrots and no tops left 🙂 Otto won’t eat carrots, but I like to break off a bit for Hannah once in a while.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I do the same as Monkey, and then put the paper-towel wrapped carrot tops in a plastic bag and tie it. They last about a week this way.

[RabbitPam]

Sammy loves carrots with tops, but she is a carrot hog and she grabs the orange before the green.

Growing up, my mother used to shop at the local store, the Co-op, and they used to pull the outer lettuce leaves off the fresh produce before putting it out. They saved bags for her, too. Unfortunately, because they were never going to sell them, back then (lalala century ago) they were covered in pesticides and so even with washing the greens turned out to be hazardous. So if you have nice people saving tops for you, give them a really thorough rinse if they’ve been set aside. I hope that now they are better, certainly organic is, but you never can be sure.

[BinkyBunny]

We have a great organic and affordable grocery that just gives away their carrot tops. So I am extremely lucky! However, I did stop giving them to Jack because it did make his urine more chalky (and I know you were concerned about this in your other thread). I don’t know the calcium content of carrot tops, but it did seem to affect Jack.

Vivian loves carrot tops too and she can enjoy them without a problem.

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