Perhaps due to my continual probing of her as to where the poison drains TO
(there is never any exudate to drip off the peeled fruit), mother gradually
eased up on the vigour with which the fruit was scored with the fork. And
wonder of wonders, none of us died or even got sick because of it. Eventually
the ritual fork scratching fell by the wayside altogether.
Now, she does not even peel the fruit - it is simply washed and sliced.
Can any other reader relate to this myth of the cucumber poison, and/or
suggest where it might have had its basis?
In recent years this puzzle has resurfaced to once more occupy more than a
passing thought as I keep hearing personal endorsements of what is referred
to here as an environmentally friendly cockroach bait: fresh cucumber peel.
Is any reader able to confirm that cucumber skin deals death to cockies?
-JS-
>Back when I was a young lad, mother used always to peel those green salad
>cucumbers with a knife, then score the entire outside of the peeled fruit
>lengthwise 8 or 9 times with a kitchen fork "to drain the poison".
You had to sprinkle salt on it too, to make it sweat better :-)
>Now, she does not even peel the fruit - it is simply washed and sliced.
Somewhere I read that leaving the skin on helps avoid cucumber-induced
indigestion :)
>Can any other reader relate to this myth of the cucumber poison, and/or
>suggest where it might have had its basis?
Cucumber or _Cucumis sativas_ is native to S. Asia. Some of its relatives
do contain toxins. For example, the African _C. myriocarpus_ ("Prickly
Paddymelon") which is now naturalised in Australia (often on heavy wet
soils such as gilgais or melon-holes) contains myriocarpin [N-free,
non-glycosidal substance which may be resinous] cucumin [an amorphous
bitter principle] and cucurbitacin A [a trilactone or tetracyclic triterpene].
Reports from eastern Africa indicate that the fruits are toxic to a range
of mammals, but there is little definite evidence of toxicity in Australian
literature, though stock are suspected of being poisoned by it when feed
in general is scarce and there are ripe fruit on the dry vines (the plant
appears to be unpalatable to stock normally).
The native _C. trigonus_ ("Paddymelon" or "Wild Cucumber") has been suspected
of causing poisoning on some occasions too, but is often eaten without
ill effect. Ripe fruit are usually sweet, immature ones are often bitter.
[Bitter fruit which are not *known* to be safe to eat are best avoided.]
Many plants in the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae) contain cucurbitacins,
which are intensely bitter compounds. One of them, a-elaterin or
cucurbitacin E, is extremely poisonous, but is used medicinally as a
cathartic. Occasionally, mutants of cultivated watermelons or piemelons
may develop an intensely bitter taste due to cucurbitacins, and these
can produce diarrhoea in humans.
All in all, maybe one shouldn't eat *too many* cool cucumber sandwiches :-)
Cheers, Ian S.
P.S. A lot of the above is plagiarised from:
EVERIST, Selwyn L. (1981). - "Poisonous Plants of Australia" Rev. Ed.
(Angus & Robertson: London, Sydney, etc.). Pp. xviii + 966.
--
Ian Staples E-mail : ia...@dpi.qld.gov.au
c/- P.O. Box 1054 MAREEBA Phone : +61 (0)70 921 555 Home 924 847
Queensland Australia 4880 Fax : +61 (0)70 923 593 " " "
>Back when I was a young lad, mother used always to peel those green salad
>cucumbers with a knife, then score the entire outside of the peeled fruit
>lengthwise 8 or 9 times with a kitchen fork "to drain the poison".
You peel cucumbers because the skin is hard and bitter - more so on some
varieties than others, but always harder and more bitter than the flesh.
Scoring the cucumbers makes them look pretty when sliced. Also, if you
want to make a cucumber salad in advance, scoring and salting them
encourages water to drain out. When they've lost the most readily spilt
water, you can make the salad with your (now limp) cucumber slices.
jds
--
j...@zikzak.apana.org.au | `You may call it "nonsense" if you
T: +61-3-525-8728 F: +61-3-562-0756 | like, but I'VE heard nonsense, com-
If all else fails try Fidonet: | pared with which that would be as sen-
joe_s...@f351.n632.z3.fidonet.org | sible as a dictionary!' - The Red Queen
: >Back when I was a young lad, mother used always to peel those green salad
: >cucumbers with a knife, then score the entire outside of the peeled fruit
: >lengthwise 8 or 9 times with a kitchen fork "to drain the poison".
: You peel cucumbers because the skin is hard and bitter - more so on some
: varieties than others, but always harder and more bitter than the flesh.
: Scoring the cucumbers makes them look pretty when sliced. Also, if you
: want to make a cucumber salad in advance, scoring and salting them
: encourages water to drain out. When they've lost the most readily spilt
: water, you can make the salad with your (now limp) cucumber slices.
: jds
Skins of fruits are usually far more toxic than the flesh, in order to protect
the flesh from various small animals that would eat it without spreading
the seeds and or destroy (digest) the seeds.
I seem to recall seeing my mother as a child and various african women on
television documentaries exposing a posionus fruit or root to the air, in
order to oxidize (I presume) the posion concerned.
Proff
> peeling is a good idea to avoid pesticide exposure. so is washing with
> soap (not detegents), as most pesticides and their inert ingredients
> (eg solvents) are fat soluble. none of this helps for systemic pesti-
> cides, where the poison is brought into the plant.
Most sources I've read agree that washing fruit, even with soap and a scrub
brush, does virtually nothing to remove residual pesticides. In your
argument above, you seem to be indicating that soap will remove the
pesticide because it is fat soluble. If it is fat soluble, then I imagine
it will be taken into the cell membranes of the fruit where no amount of
scrubbing in the world, short of peeling the fruit, will remove it.
Yasha Hartberg
Texas A&M University
"Whether they ever find life there or not, I think Jupiter should be
considered an enemy planet." Jack Handey