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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Saber Prediction of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie Reese.

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Speaker 2: And I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And today we have a classic

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Speaker 2: for you about cucumbers.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Yes, and we did this one a little bit ago.

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Speaker 2: Yes. This was originally published in June of twenty eighteen.

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Speaker 1: Yes. And before I ask you if there was any

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Speaker 1: reason it was on your mind, I have to say

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Speaker 1: I often think of one thing when I think of

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Speaker 1: this episode, and it's that our super producer Dylan Fagan

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Speaker 1: really does not enjoy cucumbers, and due to circumstances, as

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Speaker 1: it happens, he's the one editing this classic this week,

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Speaker 1: as other super producer Andrew is having a nice vacation hopefully.

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Speaker 1: And I when I saw this, I laugh, I laughed loud. Lord.

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Speaker 2: I picked it before Dylan, before I knew Dylan was

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Speaker 2: signed on.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Dylan, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 2: If it makes you feel better. They make me so gassy,

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Speaker 2: so I cannot enjoy them either.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I love them. I've been I've been making bunch

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Speaker 1: on caw yeah, and I've been using them in a

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Speaker 1: I've been making spring rolls a lot lately.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they taste lovely my guts cannot handle them.

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Speaker 1: That's a real shame. It is. So you both are cocktails.

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Speaker 1: Oh I'm mad about it. Yeah, that's true. You're both

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Speaker 1: in two different versions of a cucumber purgatory. Almost. You

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Speaker 1: can't enjoy them because of your guts. Dylan can't enjoy

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Speaker 1: them because he does not like them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, well, uh, what a lovely human to be

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Speaker 2: stuck in a cucumber purgatory.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, indeed, But uh, they.

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Speaker 2: Were on my mind because you know, like we're getting

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Speaker 2: into the warm months where like a nice refreshing cucumber,

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Speaker 2: if you enjoy that sort of thing, would be so nice.

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Speaker 2: And also like we are counting down to people who

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Speaker 2: grow cucumbers having a lot of cucumbers on their hands.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's true, and that means like fresh pickles. Oh

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Speaker 1: my rash. My mom makes this like summer relish with cucumbers.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you're right.

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Speaker 2: Friend of the show, Ramsey makes beautiful homemade homemade pickles.

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Speaker 1: Yeah they are so good. Wow.

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Speaker 2: Well, well, at least one of us here daydreams about cucumbers.

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Speaker 2: I suppose we should let former Annie and Lauren take

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Speaker 2: it away.

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Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcome to foodstuff I'm Annie Reach.

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Speaker 2: And I'm more in vocal bomb, and today we're talking

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Speaker 2: about another thing I shouldn't really eat.

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Speaker 1: Yes, we're making our bad habit of it's it's okay.

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Speaker 2: The list is long.

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Speaker 1: We're talking about cucumbers. Cucumbers and not pickles.

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Speaker 2: Not no, not pickles. Oh my goodness. We have a

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Speaker 2: pickle guest WETI works.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and so a pickle episode is forthcoming, absolutely, but

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Speaker 1: it is not this one, not today. No, today is

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Speaker 1: the cucumber. And I wanted to include a quote, a

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Speaker 1: quote of the episode right at the top from Samuel Johnson.

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Speaker 1: A cucumber should be well sliced and dressed with pepper

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Speaker 1: and vinegar, then thrown out. That's good for nothing.

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Speaker 2: Dang right, that is that is some strong words about

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Speaker 2: a cucumber. You know, I don't feel that strongly about cucumber,

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Speaker 2: and I.

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Speaker 1: Know I don't either, And I have to say I

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Speaker 1: am someone who does have a lot of like theatrics

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Speaker 1: in me and a lot of enemies as you mind.

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Speaker 1: Be sure, Yeah, that's a lot even for me, like

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Speaker 1: to put something, make a dish out of it and

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Speaker 1: just be like so spiteful. Aha, I'm gonna throw you

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Speaker 1: out at the end of this.

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Speaker 2: It's a lot, it is. But you know, I'm sure

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Speaker 2: Sherry had his reasons.

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Speaker 1: He did, and we're gonna talk about them later. They're

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Speaker 1: pretty excellent. Nevertheless, we're gonna we're gonna unpack all of

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Speaker 1: that stuff. Yeah, starting with the cucumber. What is it.

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Speaker 2: Well, cucumbers are the fruit of a flowering vine. And yes,

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Speaker 2: they're technically a fruit, not a vegetable, super technically or botanically. Rather,

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Speaker 2: they are a berry. But yeah, there are many different kinds.

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Speaker 2: But your basic cucumber is oblong, with a relatively thin, bitter,

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Speaker 2: dark green skin, encasing like very pale green flesh, which

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Speaker 2: is in turn encasing just a whole bunch of seeds.

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Speaker 2: The flesh is watery and crunchy, and the seeds are

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Speaker 2: small and kind of soft and edible, and the whole

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Speaker 2: thing tastes fresh and green and cool and a little

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Speaker 2: bit savory or bitter.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you're both.

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Speaker 2: The Latin name is Cecumus sativus, and they're fairly closely

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Speaker 2: related to melons, pumpkins, cords, and squash.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and there are many, many, many types of cucumbers,

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Speaker 1: oh yeah, including not actually including the scored in cucumber.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about it. I want to know

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Speaker 1: what it is, but it's it's not a cucumber, so

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Speaker 1: not within the purview of this episode.

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Speaker 2: It's like vaguely related. It looks sort of like a cucumber.

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Speaker 2: Does it scort you when when it's ripe it injects

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Speaker 2: its seeds? I mean, it's it's a vegetable, but when

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Speaker 2: it gets very ripe, it just ejects its seeds like violently.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, I.

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Speaker 1: Am going to have a good laugh about that later.

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Speaker 2: I you look like you're having a good laugh about that.

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Speaker 1: Right now, I'm struggling to contain myself the jokes I

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Speaker 1: want to make. Oh yeah, but we must move on.

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Speaker 2: We yes, we must, sally forth, we must.

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Speaker 1: There are yes, many many types of cucumber, from the

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Speaker 1: pickling cucumber like Curby or Liberty, to the Japanese and

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Speaker 1: Mediterranean varieties.

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Speaker 2: Their skins range from smooth to bumpy to outright spiky,

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Speaker 2: and can be yellow to green, to striped or speckled

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Speaker 2: with both, and can be either completely edible or unpleasantly

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Speaker 2: bitter and fibrous. On average, they can range from two

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Speaker 2: to forty inches that's about five to one hundred centimeters

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Speaker 2: in length, and weigh anything from two ounces to nine pounds.

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Speaker 2: Nine pounds that's like fifty grams to four kilos. Wo. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: English cucumbers can grow up to two feet long a

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Speaker 1: little underimeter and are seedless and therefore sometimes marketed as burpless.

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Speaker 1: Apparently the seeds give some people. Guess we'll touch on

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Speaker 1: that a little bit late.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely m hm.

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Speaker 1: Cucumbers typically are categorized in one of two ways, slicing

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Speaker 1: or pickling. Slicing cucumber are eaten straight from the garden

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Speaker 1: or wherever you get your cucumbers from, and generally have smooth,

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Speaker 1: spine free skin and can range in length from four

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Speaker 1: to twelve inches. Pickling cucumbers, on the other hand, are smaller,

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Speaker 1: like one to five inches, and their skin is bumpier

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Speaker 1: and or spinier.

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Speaker 2: Oh. One thing in addition to squirting cucumbers that is

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Speaker 2: not technically a type of cucumber is a gurkin. Oh really,

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Speaker 2: and okay, this is about to get what I consider

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Speaker 2: completely unnecessarily complicated. Botanically speaking, Gurkins are other fruits of

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Speaker 2: viny plants in the Cucurba tasi family, the same as cucumber,

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Speaker 2: and they resemble cucumbers in flavor or appearance, for example,

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Speaker 2: the cucumus and guria, the West Indian gurkin, and the

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Speaker 2: mellow Thria scabra, the Mexican sour girkin. That's botanically. Culturally speaking,

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Speaker 2: gurkin is either a botanical girkin that has been pickled,

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Speaker 2: or a small pickled cucumber of any kind. Some people

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Speaker 2: just pickle a cucumber and call it a girkin because

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Speaker 2: they resemble at things that are gurkins, and gurkins resemble

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Speaker 2: cucumbers anyway.

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Speaker 1: So I think that's why I've been confused.

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Speaker 2: I it's confusing, It really is, it really is. So

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Speaker 2: that's fine, right.

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Speaker 1: Etymology wise, the origins of the name is fairly straightforward,

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Speaker 1: from the Latin cucumberan. Then the old French maybe or

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Speaker 1: maybe not, took that and turned it into cucumbra, and

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Speaker 1: then that jumped to English because it's pretty close cucumbra.

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Speaker 1: Or perhaps it straight up came from y Cliff's first

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Speaker 1: English translation of the Bible, in which the cucumber gets

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Speaker 1: name checked more than once, huh. Or it could have

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Speaker 1: been both, but generally that's a that's a simpler story

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Speaker 1: than we're normally telling.

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Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely right. Yes, cucumbers are an annual plant, meaning

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Speaker 2: that you have to plant them anew each growing season

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Speaker 2: from seeds or transplants, and they will grow flour fruit

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Speaker 2: and then die off. Yeah. Grow either bush like along

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Speaker 2: the ground or can be trained up trellises or other

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Speaker 2: standing objects, fences, whatever you want. And the plants generally

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Speaker 2: have both male and female flowers, but some have been

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Speaker 2: cultivated to have a majority of one or the other.

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Speaker 2: Either way, they don't self pollinate or wind pollinate because

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Speaker 2: they're pretty sticky. You need insects, probably honeybees to do

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Speaker 2: that for you, Our good old friend, the honeybe I know.

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Speaker 2: In big agriculture, cucumbers are harvested mechanically, like the whole

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Speaker 2: plant is just pulled up and sent for sorting. They're

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Speaker 2: fairly delicate, and it's considered best to hand pluck them

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Speaker 2: from their vines. The ones with thin skins come shrink

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Speaker 2: wrapped in order to prevent water loss along the way,

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Speaker 2: which is why if you've seen an English cucumber shrink wrapped, Oh,

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Speaker 2: there you go. They don't want it to otherwise it

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Speaker 2: would dehydrate like a sponge.

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Speaker 1: Tidal idea, the thin skinned cucumber. Ooh, all right, I

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Speaker 1: like it. This is part of my process, everybody. If

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Speaker 1: we're looking at nutrition, I've often heard of cucumber referred

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Speaker 1: to as a quote negative calorie food, meaning the calories

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Speaker 1: you expend on digesting it are more than the calories

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Speaker 1: you get from eating it. Yeah, probably not, didn't find

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Speaker 1: anything to back it up, but a half cup will

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Speaker 1: run you about eight calories and they are ninety five

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Speaker 1: ninety six percent water.

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Speaker 2: Side note here, there are no scientifically rigorous studies that

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Speaker 2: prove that negative calorie foods are an actual thing. I mean, like,

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Speaker 2: throughout the day, about five to ten percent of your

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Speaker 2: energy goes into digesting foods. But eating negative calori foods

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Speaker 2: isn't going to give you enough nutrients to like live on, right,

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Speaker 2: So I mean, you know, if you like them, then

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Speaker 2: eat them, and we could all use more vegetables and

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Speaker 2: fibers things in our diets. But please, please please ignore

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Speaker 2: people who try to sell you on like negative calorie eating. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: that's I mean, if you're going to go negative calorie,

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Speaker 2: that should be done through a combination of diet and exercise.

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Speaker 2: Don't just do it through food. No, probably consult a doctor.

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Speaker 1: Yes, always. We are not medical professionals. Nope, nope, nope.

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Speaker 1: But whatever the case, they are healthy. Yeah. They have

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Speaker 1: potassium and vitamins AB six C and K fall eight, magnesium, siamine, phosphorus, copper,

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Speaker 1: and manganese. I did read somewhere that it was kind

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Speaker 1: of like a judgy It was a weird judgy statement,

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Speaker 1: like the cucumber is healthy, but it's not that healthy.

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Speaker 1: It's like, okay. It was strange in the context of

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Speaker 1: what it was written in because it wasn't just like

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Speaker 1: some comment that nobody yeah, like no blowjo or whatever

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Speaker 1: made It was in an article about cucumbers. I thought

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Speaker 1: it was interesting. In twenty ten, we produced fifty seven

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Speaker 1: point five million tons of cucumber around the world. As

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Speaker 1: of two thousand and five, China accounted for sixty percent

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Speaker 1: of that, followed by Turkey, Russia, Iran, and the US

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Speaker 1: the largest cucumber well, last I checked, I'm not regularly

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Speaker 1: checking these things. The last I checked, it was one

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Speaker 1: hundred and sixty four pounds or what are about seventy

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Speaker 1: four kilos and sixty seven inches long or one hundred

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Speaker 1: and seventy centimeters.

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Speaker 2: That that cucumber is like way bigger than me.

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Speaker 1: Oh, that's a weird thought. That's a weird.

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Speaker 2: Thought, like I could comfortably fit inside that cucumber.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I know, you'd be so cool, cool as a cucumber. Perhaps,

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Speaker 1: I keep thinking of pickle Rick. Oh yeah, but if

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Speaker 1: he would, if he had been that size, he would

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Speaker 1: be like a human size.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's this is going to come back later.

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Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, absolutely right.

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Speaker 2: Okay, but Rick, aside for the current moment or the

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Speaker 2: current moment, we're going to get into the history of

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Speaker 2: the cucumber. But first we're going to get into a

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Speaker 2: quick word from our sponsor.

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Speaker 1: Back, thank you sponsor. The cucumber got its start in

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Speaker 1: ancient Asia, probably around India and the Himalayas, where it

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Speaker 1: had been cultivated for at least three thousand years. Early

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Speaker 1: cucumbers produced more cucurbitisens than most of our modern varieties.

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Speaker 1: And this is a bitter compound that the cucumber makes

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Speaker 1: to keep those pested away. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it doesn't taste good, taste like toxic.

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Speaker 1: Stay back, stay back, don't eat me. Please more on that. Yes,

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Speaker 1: cucumber's got to mention in the legend of Gilgamesh, and

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Speaker 1: was on the product list of the ancient er in

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Speaker 1: the Sumea region of Mesopotamia. As we said at the

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Speaker 1: top of the show, the Bible brings up the cucumber

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Speaker 1: as one of the foods freely available to the slaves

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Speaker 1: in Egypt. Quote. We remember the fish which we did

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Speaker 1: eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and

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Speaker 1: the leaks, and the onions and the garlic. There are

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Speaker 1: even stories of making a weak liqueur drink from cucumber

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Speaker 1: in the early days by cutting a hole in the fruit,

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Speaker 1: stirring up the insides until they were all liquidy, plugging

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Speaker 1: up the hole, and then bearing the cucumber for a

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Speaker 1: couple of days. I mean, if anybody wants to give

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Speaker 1: it a shot, let us know how I go.

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Speaker 2: Oh goodness, don't take our advice.

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Speaker 1: No never. According to some sources, the peoples of southeastern

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Speaker 1: Europe in areas like Turkey and Bulgaria are producing cumber

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Speaker 1: around the same time as well. Whatever the case, from India,

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Speaker 1: the cucumber made the journey most likely with the Romans

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Speaker 1: to Europe. Ancient Romans were big fans of the crop

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Speaker 1: our old pal Pliny the Elder observed that they were

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Speaker 1: a popular choice for Emperor Tiberius, who was never without them.

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Speaker 1: He loved them so much that they were grown throughout

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Speaker 1: the year using artificial methods similar to a greenhouse, to

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Speaker 1: make sure that he was never ever minus a cucumber.

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Speaker 1: If he wanted a cucumber, he could get his hands

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Speaker 1: on one. Roman gardeners would plant them in wooden carts

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Speaker 1: so they could be wheeled out in the sun during

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Speaker 1: the day and moved inside during the cold winter months.

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Speaker 1: They were kept in frames or cucumber houses. They had

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Speaker 1: pineapple houses, cucumber houses.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they're pretty delicate, like they do best

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Speaker 2: in like kind of warm temperatures. But if they drop

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Speaker 2: blow like fifty, they're ruined. If they go too high,

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Speaker 2: they're ruined.

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Speaker 1: My little heart is like poor cucumbers, poor delicate cucumbers.

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Speaker 1: Plenty of descriptions of these cucumbers more closely resemble that

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Speaker 1: of wild cucumbers than what we cultivate these days. They

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Speaker 1: were quite small, and of course they were used for

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Speaker 1: medicinal purposes, everything from scorpion bites to improved eyesight to

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Speaker 1: the medicinally tangential I guess scaring away of mice. Okay, yeah,

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Speaker 1: women wanting to get pregnant would wear them strung about

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Speaker 1: their waist. I got a very big laugh out of

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Speaker 1: that at my desk. Some midwives would carry them too,

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Speaker 1: and they would toss the cucumber once the child in

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Speaker 1: question was born. Oh okay, I'm kind of curious. How

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Speaker 1: many people do you think we're getting stung by scorpions

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Speaker 1: right in this time, because it's come up more than once.

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Speaker 2: That a food is good for like scorpions stings.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, or snake bites.

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Speaker 2: Oh, so I think they're just more serious than than

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Speaker 2: they are now.

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Speaker 1: Like I suppose that's true. I mean a scorpion sting hurts.

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Speaker 2: Or some of them are deadly.

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Speaker 1: I think that's true. Just just amusings than I have

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Speaker 1: about previous times.

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Speaker 2: And no insecticides. Yeah, there are many reasons why the

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Speaker 2: past is a terrible time to have lived, but it's

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Speaker 2: I mean, like hats are basically the only good thing

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Speaker 2: we could bring back.

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Speaker 1: Hats.

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Speaker 2: Oh man.

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Speaker 1: I you know the first time I was stung by

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Speaker 1: a scorpion, I was four and I put I put

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Speaker 1: my my foot my shoe. Yeah, you always check your

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Speaker 1: shoes oh, I learned a lesson. I feel like that

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Speaker 1: should be a proverb. Always check your shoes. Always check shoes.

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Speaker 1: Scorpion may lurk inside.

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Speaker 2: There's a T shirt.

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Speaker 1: Anyway, Back to the cucumber. As we move into the

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Speaker 1: Middle Ages, cucumber first appeared in written records in France

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Speaker 1: in the ninth century CE, when Charlemagne decreed that they'd

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Speaker 1: be grown in his garden. Some writings from this period

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Speaker 1: suggest that cucumbers were introduced to England in the thirteen hundreds,

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Speaker 1: lost and then reintroduced two and a half centuries later.

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Speaker 1: This is because the English had a word for cucumber

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Speaker 1: translated literally to earth apple as far back as ten

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Speaker 1: sixty sixtye, which suggests that at least somebody had seen them,

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Speaker 1: or maybe they got the idea from the Bible. Mysteries

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Speaker 1: of history yep. Catherine of Aragon is said to have

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Speaker 1: liked cucumbers and her salads. I do too. Catherine of

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Speaker 1: Aragon and fourteen ninety four Columbus. During Columbus again brought

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Speaker 1: them over to Haiti. When French explorer Jacques Cartier arrived

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Speaker 1: in Montreal, he found quote very great cucumbers. But historians

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Speaker 1: think he was probably mistaken, given that they were such

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Speaker 1: a new crop in the New World at the time,

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Speaker 1: the time being fifteen thirty five. In fifteen thirty nine,

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Speaker 1: De Soto wrote that the cucumbers he found in Florida

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Speaker 1: were superior to the ones found in Spain. European colonialism

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Speaker 1: introduced them to Africa, too, and as more and more

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Speaker 1: trade took place between the Europeans and the indigenous peoples

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Speaker 1: of the Americas, the cucumber was adopted as a crop

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Speaker 1: in the New World, particularly with the tribes of the

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Speaker 1: Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. Several books penned in the

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Speaker 1: sixteen hundreds described cucumbers or cowcumbers.

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Speaker 2: Cucumbers as they were frequently called at the time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, growing in New England colonies. And I

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Speaker 1: hope that can you indulge me, Lauren and listeners that

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Speaker 1: if I found an expert, I'd like to read from

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Speaker 1: a sixteen hundred book how to grow them in the Americas,

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Speaker 1: and the double entendres just oh please, please, do, thank you.

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Speaker 1: Cucumbers must be grown to an enormous length. Everybody wants

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Speaker 1: to have his fruit larger than his name. And if

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Speaker 1: it is so long that no dish can be found

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Speaker 1: to hold it, so much the better. But is there

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Speaker 1: any common sense in this of what use are these

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Speaker 1: long fruits except to make people stare? Are they better bearers?

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Speaker 1: Better cedars? Quite the contrary, they are simply longer, too

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Speaker 1: coarse to suit a cultivated taste.

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Speaker 2: Oh, that's that is? That is a lot.

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Speaker 1: It is, isn't it? It goes on And I like

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Speaker 1: stopped myself from reading the entire thing because it continues.

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Speaker 2: I'm glad that we're both twelve.

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Speaker 1: That's that's good. I hope that.

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Speaker 2: I hope that you listeners out there are also twelve

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Speaker 2: and enjoying that.

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Speaker 1: I hope.

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Speaker 2: So.

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Speaker 1: Physicians continued espousing the health benefits of cucumbers, and because

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Speaker 1: of its high water content and retentativeness, the retentative retentativeness

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Speaker 1: of the water, that's fun to say, cucumbers were thought

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Speaker 1: to never lose their cool and that's a quote. Because

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Speaker 1: of this, patients with fevers may be treated by a

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Speaker 1: laying on a bed of sliced cucumbers in order to

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Speaker 1: become as cool as a cucumber.

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Speaker 2: That usage popped up around the seventeen thirties.

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Speaker 1: Right, we're still using it. Today.

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Speaker 2: Right, Oh, it's great.

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Speaker 1: Yes. Eating cucumbers three times daily was also believed to

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Speaker 1: be a cure for pimples and a reddish nose. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: The inside of a cucumber can be as much as

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Speaker 1: twenty degrees fahrenheit less than the outside.

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Speaker 2: And that's like out in a sunny field.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's pretty impressive. And yeah, this is why

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Speaker 1: cucumbers are placed over the eyes at places like Spas.

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Speaker 1: For the coolness factor in actual temperature, that's probably cool.

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Speaker 1: Cool man, You probably don't look cool at all.

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Speaker 2: No, not really. I mean it's but you're comfortable. It

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Speaker 2: depends on your definition.

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Speaker 1: That's true. That's true, Lauren. However, the cucumbers public reputation

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Speaker 1: soon fell to the wayside in the late sixteen hundreds,

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Speaker 1: thanks in part to a growing distaste and prejudice against

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Speaker 1: eating raw fruits and vegetables. This prejudice got its roots

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Speaker 1: in several articles appearing in health publications claiming that uncooked

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Speaker 1: produce led to disease, was little better than trash, possibly poisonous,

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Speaker 1: and should not be fed to children. One article signaled

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Speaker 1: out the cucumber inspecific as a crop quote fit only

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Speaker 1: for cows.

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Speaker 2: Well maybe that's where that whole cowcumber thing comes from.

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Speaker 1: That's what some historians think. A sixteen sixty three diary

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Speaker 1: had this entry on the matter. This day, Sir W.

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Speaker 1: Batton tells me that mister Newhouse is dead of eating cowcumbers,

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Speaker 1: of which the other day I heard of another. I

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Speaker 1: think cucumber's. Cucumber's poor reputation hung around for quite a

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Speaker 1: while until the nineteenth century. A company that comes up

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Speaker 1: a lot on this show was in part to thank

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Speaker 1: for the good cucumber pr and restoration of its image, Heines.

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Speaker 1: Heines started selling pickles in eighteen seventy six. Other companies

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Speaker 1: followed soon after, and people got on board with the

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Speaker 1: cucumber again.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. During his time making their rounds through Asia, Minor

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Speaker 1: Frederick Hasselquist stumbled upon the Egyptian hairy cucumber, which he

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Speaker 1: described as quote queen of cucumbers, refreshing, sweet, solid, and

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Speaker 1: wholesome in that they quote still form a great part

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Speaker 1: of the food of the lower class people in Egypt,

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Speaker 1: serving them for meat, drink, and physic interesting. By eighteen

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Speaker 1: o six, there were at least eight varieties of cucumbers

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Speaker 1: growing in colonial America.

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Speaker 2: And they are a popular garden element to this day.

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Speaker 1: They are. I think in twenty fourteen it was named

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Speaker 1: the Year of the Cucumber, right, yeah, and it is

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Speaker 1: one of the top five fruits. I always want to say.

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Speaker 2: Vegetables, but fruit technically fruit.

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Speaker 1: Yes, grown in American gardens, So it's come a long

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Speaker 1: way from the cowcumber.

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Speaker 2: Although I love that name, I would. I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I feel like there's marketing there to be harnessed.

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Speaker 1: I do too, for sure. Hmm, get on that marketers.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, something else to be possibly harnessed to some of

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Speaker 2: its medicinal powers, which are related to its burpie powers.

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Speaker 1: It's burpie powers, yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, and more on that after one more quick

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Speaker 2: break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.

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Speaker 1: Thank you sponsor, Yes.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. So the burping power of cucumbers, it's true,

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Speaker 2: it's true. Yes, cucumbers do make some people burp.

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Speaker 1: Some people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, if you're inclined to burp, you might burp.

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Speaker 2: If you're not, there's been no real scientific studies.

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Speaker 1: I find that hard to believe.

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Speaker 2: But there is a group of compounds in cucumbers and

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Speaker 2: other related plants called cucurbiticens, which Annie mentioned earlier, and

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Speaker 2: they provide some of those bitter flavor notes in cucumbers

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Speaker 2: and also make some people burp. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: A listener email in about this forever ago, and I

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Speaker 1: think it was a very short email and it just said,

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Speaker 1: do cucumbers actually make you burp? Can you look into this?

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Speaker 1: And I was like, that can't be true. I've never

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Speaker 1: really heard of that. But here's a quote I've found

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Speaker 1: from the I think it's the Missouri University of Missouri.

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Speaker 1: Non birthless types can be made a bit more socially

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Speaker 1: acceptable by cutting off about one inch of the stem

431
00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:31,919
Speaker 1: end and peeling the skin off the fruit.

432
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,880
Speaker 2: And that's true. Most of the cucumb meiticines in cucumbers

433
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:39,960
Speaker 2: are concentrated in the skin and in that tail end

434
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 2: or that that stem end of the cucumber. But they're

435
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,560
Speaker 2: not just in there for like comedy effects. In nature,

436
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,720
Speaker 2: they do help ward off pests. Many creatures avoid better

437
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,680
Speaker 2: flavors because many better flavors are toxic. Yeah, which means

438
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:57,919
Speaker 2: that psychologists say that if you really like better flavors,

439
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,000
Speaker 2: there's something a little bit off about you.

440
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:07,400
Speaker 1: What's your favorite type of flavor Lauren Bitter. Ohh okay, cool.

441
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:13,000
Speaker 2: That mild toxicity may cause some people to burp after

442
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,800
Speaker 2: eating cucumber, but it could actually be a bonus in

443
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 2: the long run. Cucre bitisins may have anti tumor properties.

444
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,040
Speaker 2: Oh really Yeah, because apparently they're toxic to tumors too.

445
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:25,680
Speaker 1: Makes sense.

446
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, and more more research needs to be done on

447
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 2: that one.

448
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, but I got another question. Yeah, why do

449
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,159
Speaker 1: they smell gross to some people?

450
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,199
Speaker 2: This is something I'd never heard of me either, Like I,

451
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,399
Speaker 2: like I have have lots of experience with the with

452
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,879
Speaker 2: the great debate of whether cilantro is delicious or tastes

453
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,400
Speaker 2: like soap. Yeah, and that's a genetic thing, it is.

454
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:50,479
Speaker 2: This is also a genetic thing. The compound phenyl thio

455
00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 2: carbamide or PTC, which is a much nicer thing to

456
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:57,280
Speaker 2: say out loud, either tastes like super bitter or basically

457
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:01,199
Speaker 2: like nothing at all, depending on your per genetic makeup.

458
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:04,560
Speaker 2: The specific gene that creates the physical shape of the

459
00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,239
Speaker 2: taste receptors to either be able to detect this or not,

460
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:10,359
Speaker 2: or something a little bit in between, was identified in

461
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:15,160
Speaker 2: two thousand and three. Oh wow, Yeah, okay, okay, okay, but.

462
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 1: Why are cats so dang scared of cucumbers?

463
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,639
Speaker 2: All right? This is a matter of some debate, but okay,

464
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 2: either A cats think their snakes at first, okay, oh

465
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 2: good guys, sure? Or B if you plunked basically anything

466
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 2: unexpected down behind a cat, especially when it's just been eating,

467
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:37,280
Speaker 2: it's going to be startled.

468
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:38,600
Speaker 1: Huh.

469
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,880
Speaker 2: I mean like if someone quietly snuck behind you while

470
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 2: you were eating dinner and left an object there that's

471
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 2: about half as tall as you and as thick as

472
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,040
Speaker 2: your leg, what would you do when you got up

473
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 2: and turned around.

474
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 1: Well, I'm easily startled, But okay, this is giving me

475
00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,800
Speaker 1: an idea because there's a guy out where I'm very

476
00:26:58,800 --> 00:26:59,600
Speaker 1: easily startled.

477
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,280
Speaker 2: Is I basically cannot approach her desk without startling her? Yeah,

478
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,000
Speaker 2: which I constantly feel bad about but also giggle about

479
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:06,399
Speaker 2: a little bit.

480
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a like people can slowly approach with their

481
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: hands up in like a surrender I mean no harm position,

482
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 1: and I will like jump back into the wall.

483
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 2: That's literally what I usually do.

484
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, but there's a guy at work who likes to

485
00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:23,440
Speaker 1: prank me. He likes to scare me, he likes to

486
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: startle me. He sits, he stands. We have standing desks

487
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:31,360
Speaker 1: across from me. Uh, Chandler, Chandler. And I think I'm

488
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:35,040
Speaker 1: going to just put a cucumber behind him because it's weird.

489
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,280
Speaker 1: It won't scare him, it's weird.

490
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,520
Speaker 2: See, I was picturing as I was writing this, I

491
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,359
Speaker 2: was picturing Pickle Rick. I was like, what if like

492
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,520
Speaker 2: an enlarged version of Pickle Rick was just standing behind you.

493
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 1: Oh, that would scare me.

494
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,679
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, when you got done eating, I'd be real scared.

495
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 1: Pickle Rick is terrifying.

496
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,120
Speaker 2: I love Rick and Morty. I never want to meet Rick,

497
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:56,160
Speaker 2: especially not in pickle format.

498
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:58,920
Speaker 1: No fun fact, I would say that was the most

499
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:00,879
Speaker 1: popular costume Dragonconn last year.

500
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:02,800
Speaker 2: Oh goodness, yeah, I saw a really good one.

501
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:05,120
Speaker 1: Pickle Rick's abound.

502
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 2: But anyway, cats and cucumbers don't. Don't do that to

503
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 2: your cat man. Don't do things to your pets to

504
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,359
Speaker 2: startle them on purpose. It's impolite. I mean, and I

505
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:18,800
Speaker 2: know that cats don't have a concept of rudeness. Actually

506
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,320
Speaker 2: they do. They're heck and rude, they totally do. But

507
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,919
Speaker 2: but they don't understand the humor in the situation. And

508
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,600
Speaker 2: it's just stressing them out. Be nice to your pets.

509
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, always be nice to your pets. Chandler, however, has

510
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 1: it coming.

511
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:36,680
Speaker 2: Chandler is way less innocent than a cat.

512
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:41,320
Speaker 1: So I can't wait to do this. I'm very excited.

513
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:47,000
Speaker 1: We'll need to film it, Okay, yes, And that brings

514
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,520
Speaker 1: us to the end of this classic episode. We hope

515
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 1: that you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing

516
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: it back. And oh, if you have recipes, pickle recipes, whatever,

517
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 1: please let us know.

518
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,480
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, well and let Annie now they're they're

519
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 2: they're useless to me.

520
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 1: Don't don't let lord know. This will be our our secret.

521
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 1: There you go.

522
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 2: I do have one, uh correction kind of so all right.

523
00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 2: So in the beginning of this episode, uh, we talked

524
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:23,720
Speaker 2: about extraordinarily large cucumbers and uh, I'm not sure where

525
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 2: your source on the biggest cucumber, which which was the

526
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 2: University of Missouri Environment and Garden magazine. I'm not sure

527
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,760
Speaker 2: where they got their numbers, but they were much larger

528
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,560
Speaker 2: than what I could find. Because in preparation to do

529
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 2: this classic, I was like, I should see if someone

530
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,040
Speaker 2: has grown a bigger cucumber. This is obviously my journalistic duty,

531
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 2: but I couldn't find anything even close to that size. So,

532
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,480
Speaker 2: according to Guinness, which is not to be fair, the

533
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 2: be all end all of records, but I couldn't find

534
00:29:56,040 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 2: competing records. There are separate categories for or longest cucumber

535
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 2: and heaviest cucumber. The record for the longest was set

536
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,320
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two by a man in the UK.

537
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,000
Speaker 2: It measured three feet eight inches or one hundred and

538
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,840
Speaker 2: thirteen centimeters, and the record for the heaviest was set

539
00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:18,200
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, also in the UK, and it

540
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 2: weighed twenty nine pounds eight ounces or thirteen point four kilos,

541
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 2: so smaller than the numbers originally reported, but still really impressive.

542
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 1: Well, I'm always so interested in these records because sometimes

543
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 1: I wonder if clearly people purposely set out to do them. Well,

544
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 1: the people, I'm wondering if they're just sitting on a

545
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,960
Speaker 1: record and they don't know, Oh sure, who knows what

546
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: world of records were missing out on?

547
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think with a lot of these it is

548
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:59,400
Speaker 2: a very purposeful. Yes, you know, I've read about the

549
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:05,440
Speaker 2: regimen of watering and feeding that people put these vegetables through.

550
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:10,719
Speaker 1: It's like a montage of training montage. I do have

551
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 1: to say, if anyone has any insight to this, I've

552
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,360
Speaker 1: actually seen a horror movie about its surprise surprise. I

553
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 1: bought a pumpkin in October. I didn't carve it because

554
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:28,840
Speaker 1: I was sad. It looks great. It looks like I

555
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:32,560
Speaker 1: bought it yesterday. It's a huge conversation piece every time

556
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:34,320
Speaker 1: someone comes over there.

557
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 2: Like where did you get a pumpkin?

558
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 1: It is April, and I'm like, oh, no, I bought that. Yeah,

559
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 1: so that's fun. If anyone has any thoughts.

560
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 2: That I last year, I had one last like into

561
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 2: the summer, and then it very suddenly kind of.

562
00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:59,000
Speaker 1: That's what I'm worried about. I keep like checking it

563
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:04,600
Speaker 1: for good. I didn't. I did not. If we talked

564
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,400
Speaker 1: about that in our pumpkin our recent pumpkin short about

565
00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:13,160
Speaker 1: how you should properly dispose of pumpkins if you can,

566
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,680
Speaker 1: and so I'm trying to make I'm trying to do

567
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 1: it correctly, but also it's doing well anyway, Listeners, if

568
00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:31,920
Speaker 1: you have grown any of an interesting an interesting crop

569
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 1: of note, let us know, and yeah, any recipes send

570
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 1: my way. Yes, you can email us at Hello at

571
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 1: savorpod dot com.

572
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:45,120
Speaker 2: We are also on social media. You can find us

573
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 2: on Blue Sky and Instagram at saver pod and we

574
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,360
Speaker 2: do hope to hear from you. Savor is a production

575
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you

576
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,280
Speaker 2: can visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

577
00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:58,760
Speaker 2: listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our

578
00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:01,680
Speaker 2: super producers Dylan Fae again and Andrew Howard. Thanks to

579
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:03,239
Speaker 2: you for listening, and we hope that lots of more

580
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:12,720
Speaker 2: good things are coming your way