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The cucumber ( Cucumis sativus) is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical , which are used as culinary vegetables." Cucumber." Encyclopædia Britannica. 1998 2019. Considered an annual plant, there are three main types of cucumber—slicing, Pickled cucumber, and Seedless fruit—within which several have been created. The cucumber originates in Asia extending from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China (Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi), and Northern Thailand, (2021). 9781119717003, Wiley. ISBN 9781119717003 but now grows on most , and many different types of cucumber are grown commercially and traded on the global market. In North America, the term wild cucumber refers to plants in the Genus Echinocystis and Marah, though the two are not closely related.
The fruit of typical cultivars of cucumber is roughly cylindrical, but elongated with tapered ends, and may be as large as long and in diameter.
Cucumber fruits consist of 95% water (see nutrition table). In Botany terms, the cucumber is classified as a pepo, a type of botanical berry with a hard outer rind and no internal divisions. However, much like and Cucurbita, it is often perceived, prepared, and eaten as a vegetable.
A few of cucumber are Parthenocarpy, the of which create seedless fruit without pollination, which degrades the eating quality of these cultivar. In the United States, these are usually grown in , where are excluded. In Europe, they are grown outdoors in some regions, where bees are likewise excluded.
Traditional cultivars produce male blossoms first, then female, in about equivalent numbers. Newer gynoecious hybrid cultivars produce almost all female blossoms. They may have a pollenizer cultivar interplanted, and the number of beehives per unit area is increased, but temperature changes induce male flowers even on these plants, which may be sufficient for pollination to occur.
In 2009, an international team of researchers announced they had sequenced the cucumber genome.
A study of genetic recombination during meiosis in cucumber provided a high resolution landscape of meiotic DNA double strand-breaks and genetic crossovers. The average number of crossovers per chromosome per meiosis was 0.92 to 0.99.
Depending on variety, cucumbers may have a mild melon aroma and flavor, in part resulting from unsaturated , such as , and the cis- and trans- of 2-nonenal. The slightly bitter taste of cucumber rind results from cucurbitacins.
Research from 2018 found that polyphenol content was higher in unpeeled cucumbers.Yunusa, Alkasim & Dandago, Munir Abba & Ibrahim, Sa’adatu & Abdullahi, Nura & Tsoho, Adamu Usman & Barde, Aminu. (2018). Total Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Capacity of Different Parts of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Acta Universitatis Cibiniensis. Series E: Food Technology. 22. 13-20. 10.2478/aucft-2018-0008.
Slicers grown commercially for the North American market are generally longer, smoother, more uniform in color, and have much tougher skin. In contrast, those in other countries, often called European cucumbers, are smaller and have thinner, more delicate skin, often with fewer seeds, thus are often sold in plastic skin for protection. This variety may also be called a telegraph cucumber, particularly in Australasia. Cucumber – 5+ a day, New Zealand Retrieved 18 May 2018
In 2022, world production of cucumbers and gherkins was 95 million , led by China with 82% of the total.
Reportedly, they were also cultivated in specularia, cucumber houses glazed with oiled cloth. Pliny describes the Italian fruit as very small, probably like a gherkin. He also describes the preparation of a medication known as elaterium. However, some scholars believe that he was instead referring to Ecballium elaterium, known in pre-Linnean times as Cucumis silvestris or Cucumis asininus ('wild cucumber' or 'donkey cucumber'), a species different from the common cucumber.Pliny the Elder, Natural History XX. iii . Pliny also writes about several other varieties of cucumber, including the cultivated cucumber,Pliny the Elder, Natural History XX. iv – v . and remedies from the different types (9 from the cultivated; 5 from the "anguine;" and 26 from the "wild").
In 1630, the Reverend Francis Higginson produced a book called New-Englands Plantation in which, describing a garden on Conant's Island in Boston Harbor known as The Governor's Garden, he states:Higginson, Francis. 1630 1906. . Salem, MA: Essex Book and Print Club. . p. 5.
Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary on 22 August 1663: Saturday 22 August 1663 (Pepys' Diary). Pepysdiary.com. Retrieved on 25 November 2012.
John Evelyn in 1699 wrote that the cucumber, 'however dress'd, was thought fit to be thrown away, being accounted little better than poyson (poison)'.
According to 18th-century British writer Samuel Johnson, it was commonly said among English physicians that a cucumber "should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing."
A copper etching made by Maddalena Bouchard between 1772 and 1793 shows this plant to have smaller, almost bean-shaped fruits, and small yellow flowers. The small form of the cucumber is figured in of the 16th century, however stating that "if hung in a tube while in blossom, the Cucumber will grow to a most surprising length."
Herbivore defense
in cucumbers may discourage natural foraging by , such as insects, or wildlife. As a possible defense mechanism, cucumbers produce Cucurbitacin, which causes a bitter taste in some cucumber varieties. This potential mechanism is under preliminary research to identify whether cucumbers are able to deter herbivores and environmental stresses by using an intrinsic chemical defense, particularly in the leaves, , pedicel, Caropodium, and fruit.
Nutrition, aroma, and taste
Raw cucumber (with peel) is 95% water, 4% , 1% protein, and contains negligible fat. A Serving size provides of food energy. It has a low content of : it is notable only for vitamin K, at 14% of the Daily Value (table).
Varieties
In general Agriculture, cucumbers are classified into three main cultivar groups: slicing, Pickled cucumber, and Seedless fruit.
Culinary uses
Fruit
Slicing
Cucumbers grown to eat fresh are called slicing cucumbers. The main varieties of slicers mature on with large leaves that provide shading.
Pickling
Pickled cucumber with brine, sugar, vinegar, and spices creates various flavored products from cucumbers and other foods. Although any cucumber can be pickled, commercial pickles are made from cucumbers specially bred for uniformity of length-to-diameter ratio and lack of voids in the flesh. Those cucumbers intended for pickling, called picklers, grow to about long and wide. Compared to slicers, picklers tend to be shorter, thicker, less-regularly shaped, and have bumpy skin with tiny white or black-dotted spines. Color can vary from creamy yellow to pale or dark green.
Gherkin
Gherkins, also called cornichons, or baby pickles, are small cucumbers, typically those in length, often with bumpy skin, which are typically used for pickling. The word gherkin comes from the early modern Dutch language gurken or augurken ('small pickled cucumber'). The term is also used in the name for Cucumis anguria, the West Indian gherkin, a closely related species.
Burpless
Burpless cucumbers are sweeter and have a thinner skin than other varieties of cucumber. They are reputed to be easy to digest and to have a pleasant taste. They can grow as long as , are nearly seedless, and have a delicate skin. Most commonly grown in greenhouses, these parthenocarpic cucumbers are often found in Grocery store, Shrink wrap in plastic. They are marketed as either burpless or seedless, as the seeds and skin of other varieties of cucumbers are said to give some people gas.
Shoots
Cucumber shoots are regularly consumed as a vegetable, especially in rural areas. In Thailand they are often served with a crab meat sauce. They can also be stir fried or used in soups. (2025). 9780794600785, Periplus Editions. ISBN 9780794600785
Production
77.3 1.9 1.6 1.1 94.7 Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations
Cultivation history
Cultivated for at least 3,000 years, the cultivated cucumbers "Cucumis sativus" were domesticated in India from wild " C. sativus var. hardwickii". where a great many varieties have been observed, along with its closest living relative, Cucumis hystrix.Asian News International. 21 July 2010. " Cucumber, melon's common ancestor originated in Asia." NewsTrack India. Retrieved on 4 June 2020. The three main cultivar groups of cucumber are Eurasian cucumbers (slicing cucumbers eaten raw and immature), East Asian cucumbers (pickling cucumbers), and Xishuangbanna cucumbers. Based on demographic modelling, the East Asian C. sativus cultivars diverged from the Indian cultivars about 2,500 years ago. It was probably introduced to Europe by the Greeks or Romans. Records of cucumber cultivation appear in France in the 9th century, England in the 14th century, and in North America by the mid-16th century.
Doijode, S. D. 2001. Seed storage of horticultural crops. Haworth Press. . p. 281.
Roman Empire
According to Pliny the Elder, the Emperor Tiberius had the cucumber on his table daily during summer and winter. In order to have it available for his table every day of the year, the Romans reportedly used artificial growing methods (similar to the Greenhouse) using mirrorstone, Pliny's lapis specularis, believed to have been sheet mica:Pliny the Elder. 77–79 1855. " Vegetables of a Cartilaginous Nature—Cucumbers. Pepones ." Ch. 23 in The Natural History XIX, translated by J. Bostock and H. T. Riley. London: Taylor & Francis. – via Perseus under PhiloLogic, also available via Perseus Project.
Middle Ages
Charlemagne had cucumbers grown in his gardens in the 8th/9th century. They were reportedly introduced into England in the early 14th century, lost, then reintroduced approximately 250 years later. The Spaniards (through the Italian people Christopher Columbus) brought cucumbers to Haiti in 1494. In 1535, Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, found "very great cucumbers" grown on the site of what is now Montreal.
Early-modern age
Throughout the 16th century, European trappers, traders, bison hunters, and explorers bartered for the products of American Indian agriculture. The tribes of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains learned from the Spanish how to grow European crops. The farmers on the Great Plains included the Mandan and Abenaki. They obtained cucumbers and from the Spanish, and added them to the crops they were already growing, including several varieties of Maize and , , squash, and gourd plants. The Iroquois were also growing them when the first Europeans visited them. (1996). 9782881244650, Gordon and Breach. ISBN 9782881244650
The countrie aboundeth naturally with store of roots of great and good to eat. Our turnips, parsnips, and carrots are here both bigger and sweeter than is ordinary to be found in England. Here are store of pompions, cowcumbers, and other things of that nature which I know not...
In New England Prospect (1633, England), William Wood published observations he made in 1629 in America:Wood, William. (1634). " Of the Hearbes, Fruites, Woods, Waters and Mineralls", pp. 13–18 in New England Prospect. London.
Age of Enlightenment and later
In the later 17th century, a prejudice developed against uncooked vegetables and fruits. A number of articles in contemporary health publications stated that uncooked plants brought on summer diseases and should be forbidden to children. The cucumber kept this reputation for an inordinate period of time, "fit only for consumption by cows," which some believe is why it gained the name, cowcumber.
This day Sir W. Batten tells me that Mr. Newburne is dead of eating cowcumbers, of which the other day I heard of another, I think.
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See also
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