Whether you’re eating it as a pickle, on top of a salad, or just on its own, cucumbers are always a crowd favorite. Cucumbers are 96% water; however, still are a great source of vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5 and B6, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Here are 20 more agriculture fun facts you might not know about the cucumber:
- Around the 3rd millennia BC, cucumbers were first grown domestically in ancient India.
- In 1494, Christopher Columbus brought the fruit to Haiti which started their distribution around the new world.
- The phrase “cool as a cucumber” originated because cucumbers can be 20 degrees different between the inside and the outside temperature.
- Cucumbers are members of the Cucurbitaceae family which also includes muskmelons, watermelons, pumpkins, and gourds.
- Botanically speaking, cucumbers are a fruit, but they are used as a vegetable. Similar to tomatoes.
- The plants are monoecious which means they produce both female and male flowers.
- Sliced or pureed cucumbers can give an almost instant relief to sunburnt skin.
- Because cucumbers are 96% water, they do not contain as many nutrients as drier vegetables.
- The world’s heaviest cucumber was grown by David Thomas, from the UK, in 2015 and weighed 23 pounds and 7 ounces.
- Small scale farms and part-time farming operations (fewer than 5 acres) are appropriate for cucumber production.
- Michigan ranks 1st in the nation for production of pickling cucumbers and 4th in the nation for fresh cucumbers.
- There were 11,200 farms in the northeast states that produced more than 6,600 acres of cucumbers in 2012.
- In that same year, Pennsylvania produced 337 acres of cucumbers.
- In the United States, the value of production is over $410 million for cucumbers.
- The soil for cucumbers should hold moisture and have good water infiltration.
- Because cucumbers are very sensitive to cold, normally they are seeded when soil temperatures do not fall below 50°F at night.
- Bees are essential for pollination.
- Generally, slicing cucumbers are planted on plastic beds in single rows with around 6 feet between rows and 10 inches between plants.
- Cucumbers should be harvested when they are around 7 inches in length and 2 inches in diameter.
- Cucumbers are generally harvested by hand, but pickling cucumbers are harvested by machine.
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Written by: Amber DiCarlo, Marketing Intern
Sources:
Thefactsite.com
Wafarmtoschool.org
Michigangrown.org
Extension.psu.edu