These Facts Are as Cool as Cucumbers

What did the squash say to the cucumber when he saw the pumpkin patch?

"Oh, my gourd."

What did the carrot say to the cucumber that owed him some money?

"Hey, man, you knew the dill. Now you are in a pickle, and I could not carrot all."

Okay, unlike these bad puns, cucumbers are super cool. Here are 12 things you might not know about cukes.

(Prefer to listen? Check out episode 28 of the Grow Your Self podcast, "Cool as a Cucumber", on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Stitcher to hear more fun facts about this delicious fruit.)

Cucumbers Were One of the Earliest Domesticated Vegetables

That means cucumbers were one of the very first vegetables to be grown on purpose. Seeds from a type of small, bitter cucumber native to the Himalayas were dated back to 9750 BCE in Myanmar. Cucumbers eventually made their way to Ancient Egypt, where they became super popular and were brined for dishes. Ancient Egyptians also loved them some cucumber water, though theirs was a low-proof alcohol they'd make by burying cukes for a couple of days.

Cucumbers are mentioned in both the Epic of Gilgamesh and The Bible.

Cucumbers Are Technically Fruits

You might not think to mix cucumbers in with your fruit salad, but it is, botanically speaking, a fruit.

Cucumber plants produce little yellow flowers. If a bee comes along and does the pollen dance, then—bing, bang, boom—a baby cucumber fruit grows out of the flower. (If you don't have many friendly neighborhood pollinators, you can also pollinate your cucumbers by hand.)

Here are some cucumbers with a bunch of other fruits you might consider veggies in your kitchen.

Ancient Romans Loved Them Some Cukes

Ancient Romans loved them so much it's said they created moveable greenhouses just to grow cucumbers year round so they'd never have a time without this delicious vegetable. In addition to eating cucumbers, they used them as remedies to treat bad eyesight, scorpion stings, and infertility. Emperor Tiberius ate a cucumber a day.

The Reason We Say "Cool as a Cucumber" Comes from Old Medical Treatments

People have long been aware of cucumber benefits. Physicians in the 17th century would prescribe a patient with fever to lie down on a bed of cucumbers, believing this to be an effective treatment that could cool the blood. Thus the expression "cool as a cucumber."

Cucumbers Really Are Good for Your Skin

Ever wonder why they put cucumber slices on your eyes during a spa day? Well, as it turns out, cucumbers can tighten your pores, reduce visibility of wrinkles, and eliminate dark circles under your eyes. They can supposedly even make your cellulite less noticeable. Is there anything cucumbers can't do?!

People Have Put Cucumbers in Their Salads for 100s of Years

It's said that Catherine of Aragon demanded cucumbers for her salads (a Spanish custom) when she moved to England and married Henry VIII. By the time Queen Elizabeth assumed the throne just decades later, there were five distinct cucumber varieties grown in England, including the common cucumber, the Turkish cucumber, and the Spanish cucumber.

Cucumbers Can Cure Those Headaches You Get When You're Thirsty

Cucumbers are actually 95 percent water. That makes them the perfect snack to help you rehydrate after a long workout or a big game—you know, instead of drinking Gatorade. Cucumbers can even help you get over a bad headache from a hangover.

Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue with Cucumber Seeds

Cristopher Columbus brought cucumber seeds with him to the Americas, and Spanish settlers were growing them in Haiti by 1494. Supposedly, trappers introduced them to the Native Americans in the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, and the tribes were like, "Hey, we like these!" By 1539, Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer, declared that Florida-grown cucumbers were superior to Spanish-grown ones. 

The Highest Cucumber Nutrition Is Found in the Skin

Cucumbers are packed with vitamins (specifically vitamin C), folic acid, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. They're basically a multivitamin in every bite. And if you're trying to help curb hunger (in other words, eat less junk food), cucumbers are your fruit. They've been shown to make you feel full and stabilize your metabolism.

The most nutrient-dense part of the cucumber is the skin, so keep that in mind when you're preparing them.

Cucumbers Were Once Considered Poisonous

Cucumbers were a staple of American colonial gardens, and Thomas Jefferson grew them on these beautiful wooden trellises at Monticello, one of my favorite gardens to visit.

Then something happened. A rumor surfaced that cucumbers were poisonous if not cooked. This idea didn't come completely out of left field. Cucumbers can, after all, taste bitter, and we're rightfully leery of bitter things. (Strychnine, anyone?)

The bitterness in cucumbers comes from something called cucurbitacins, which protected the OG cucumber plants from pests. Cucurbitacins do actually have toxic properties. It's the cucurbitacins that give some people gas, stomach pains, or even diarrhea—and yes, this is why you burp after you eat cucumbers!

Don't worry—it's perfectly fine for us to eat cucumbers in moderate amounts. But back in the day, people were afraid to eat cucumbers for a good, long while. Now, we have burpless varieties that taste less bitter and cause less burping (you still might not be burp-free).

Most of the Cucumbers You Find at the Store Are Grown in Just 3 Places

In the US, cucumbers are mostly grown in just two states: Florida (for fresh use) and Michigan (for pickling). If you're wondering how your grocery store can sell fresh cucumbers in the middle of winter, check the tag—it's probably from Mexico. Enjoy that cucumber fast because these guys really weren't built for roadtrips!

Worldwide, 57 million tons of cucumbers are produced each year, with 40.7 million tons produced in China alone.

Cucumbers Have Been Grown in Space

In 2010, astronauts aboard the International Space Station grew cucumber seedlings as part of an experiment to see how plant roots behave in environments with less gravity. Their findings (that cucumber roots grow toward water sources instead of straight down) encouraged scientists to look into ways to grow crops more efficiently in arid climates.

How Cucumbers Became Pickles

People have been pickling cucumbers for thousands of years, but the 1850s saw the invention of two essential canning tools that made pickling more popular: mason jars (which are made from heavy glass that can withstand high temperatures) and paraffin wax (which allows food to be sealed in those mason jars). Instead of filling a huge barrel with brine and vegetables, people could now make little glass jars of pickles at home.

The most famous cucumber of the 19th century was the one first preserved by H.J. Heinz. Heard of him? He began bottling pickles in 1870 as a tasty addition to the monotonous American diet of meat and potatoes. His idea was such a success that it spurred interest in cucumber hybridization to create the perfect pickle. Heinz would go on to lobby for new food safety regulations so that everyone could have safe pickles, helping to bring about the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act.

Kosher dill pickles and other pickled vegetables have long been a staple of Jewish culture and cuisine. Jews living in the Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia pickled cucumbers, beets, and cabbage in large barrels that they'd leave to ferment in a dark cellar. That way, they'd have these delicious garden remnants to help them get through the winter months. Immigrants brought kosher dill pickles to the states in the 1900s.

American producers soon found that shorter fermenting times created these really pretty green pickles, and these were sold on push carts and straight from the barrel in Jewish-owned shops.

Cucumber vs Zucchini

Cucumbers and zucchini are in the same family, Cucurbitaceae, which explains why they look so much alike. We've all mistaken a cucumber for a zucchini at the grocery store, but these plants do differ in many ways.

Growth Habit

One major difference is their growth habit. Zucchini grows into a big, bushy plant instead of a vine. You'll need to give zucchini plants lots of space in your garden. In fact, I typically don't plant zucchinis in my raised beds because they take up so much space (and my family doesn't love the taste of zucchini).

Preparation

Another difference is how you can enjoy them. Cucumbers are tasty when eaten raw, but zucchini is better if cooked and handles cooking better. For some reason, zucchinis seem more like a vegetable to me than cucumbers do, and I find I can eat more cucumbers.

Nutrition

Now let's look at their nutrition. They're similar in terms of calories, and zucchini beats cucumbers in terms of vitamin B (zucchini has 10 percent of your recommended vitamin B) and vitamin C (zucchini has 29 percent of your recommended vitamin C). Both vegetables have a good amount of calcium, plus magnesium and vitamin K, but zucchini has more potassium, iron, protein, and fiber.

Food Fight Verdict

So in terms of nutrients, zucchini is winning. Cucumbers win if you're concerned about growing space in your garden because you can fit several cucumber plants along a trellis. I've also had better luck growing cucumbers versus zucchini. I always end up with squash vine borer when I grow squash and zucchini, but that doesn't happen with cucumbers.

Of course, if you want to get rid of bags under your eyes, it's cucumbers for the win.

Go Enjoy Some Cucumbers!

I hope you have a better appreciation for that long English cucumber or that jar of pickles now.

I love sharing the surprising stories of our foods with you and how they make their way onto our plates. I know it helps me appreciate the beauty of nature and the wonder of our food growing from seed into something that nourishes our body (and can even—maybe—remove cellulite!).