![]() Heinz added pickles to the list of products made by the food processing company that bears his name. The set back was short-lived and by the 19th century cucumber regained its popularity in the U.S.Ĭucumber’s popularity was bolstered considerably when, in 1876, Henry J. Reportedly, this expansion was interrupted somewhat in the 18th century when medical journals warned of the dangers of eating cucumbers and other vegetables not adequately cooked. Trappers and fur traders probably were responsible for introducing Native Americans to cucumber as they made their way across the country. As a result, 17th Century physicians prescribed placing fever patients on a bed of cucumbers so they would become “cool, as a cucumber.” Additionally, it was thought that if cucumbers were eaten three times daily, red noses would be healed and pimples on the face would disappear. The cucumber’s water retentive ability earned it the reputation for never losing its cool. The lack of that knowledge did not keep cucumber from being used medicinally earlier in our history. By 1806 eight varieties of cucumbers would be found growing in America’s colonial gardens.Īs mentioned previously, scientists recently have found cucumber to contain a number of beneficial phyto-nutrients. In 1539, De Soto judged the cucumbers he found growing in Florida to be better than those of native land of Spain. Columbus is credited for taking cucumber to the New World, along with many other vegetables. The Age of Discovery proved to be very important to the spread of cucumber. His first wife (Catherine of Aragon) was said to have demanded them for her Spanish salads. It was during the reign of King Henry VIII that cucumber made its way to England. Later, Charlemagne was said to have grown cucumbers in his gardens in Italy in the 8th and 9thcentury. Later, the Romans advanced plant forcing structure technology (and cucumber production) by fashioning frames covered with translucent panes of silicates-not unlike our modern cold frames. To meet that demand, his gardeners fashioned some of the first plant forcing structures, constructing portable containers which they moved from place to place. The Emperor Tiberius was said to have demanded that they be on his table every day. The Greeks also cultivated cucumbers as (later) did the Romans. The previous probably should be followed with the warning: “Don’t try this at home”. The resultant concoction was unearthed and consumed. ![]() Evidently the Egyptians made weak liquor from cucumber by cutting a hole in the ripe fruit, stirring the inside with a stick to liquefy it, plugging the hole and then burying it in the ground for several days. Numbers 11:5 reads: “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick”. Bitterness still is a problem with some cucumbers today, although great progress has been made by plant breeders to eliminate the bitter compounds.Ĭucumbers were cultivated and eaten in ancient Egpyt as evidenced by the Bible. These natural defense compounds act to repel insects and other pests. Early cucumbers were probably very bitter because of compounds they contained called cucurbitacins. Cave excavations have revealed that cucumber has been grown as a food source for over 3000 years. Native to India, cucumber is another one of our most ancient vegetables. Other important members of this family include watermelon, muskmelon, pumpkin and squash. While March is a bit early to plant cucumbers in our gardens, it is a fitting month to take a closer look at this interesting vegetable.Ĭucumber ( Cucumis sativus) belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. Recent research, however, has shown this water-laden vegetable contains significant amounts of phyto-nutrients which have a wide array of human health benefits. For years, cucumber was considered to be primarily “diet food” because of its low caloric content. Cool and refreshing on a hot summer day, cucumber is one of America’s top five garden vegetables. Thus, 2014 is “The Year of the Cucumber”. The National Garden Bureau has chosen cucumber as its vegetable to promote this year.
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