Historians believe the ancient Greeks and Romans cultivated Carrots they are mentioned by Pliny the Elder and were prized by the Emperor Tiberius. However most ancient writings from Asia Minor, Greece and Rome do not mention carrots specifically, even though wild carrots have a long history of presumed medicinal use. Parsnip is often mentioned in the writings and often the words for parsnip and carrot were initially interchangeable. In classical writings both vegetables seem to have been sometimes called pastinaca yet each vegetable appears to be well under cultivation in Roman times. Carrots are nutritional heroes; they store a goldmine of nutrients. No other vegetable or fruit contains as much carotene as carrots, which the body converts to vitamin A. This is a truly versatile vegetable and an excellent source of vitamins B and C as well as calcium pectate, an extraordinary pectin fibre that has been found to have cholesterol-lowering properties.