If you’re like most people, it’s likely you’ve heard of lemons and cucumbers, but never a lemon cucumber. Yes, they do exist. They start off light green, but turn yellow as they mature. The flavor is mild and, unlike other cucumbers, there’s no bitter taste. In fact, they’re quite sweet. People who have tasted them say they have a lemony taste, hence the name. The story is told of a self-taught hybridizer who created the lemon cucumber back in 1903 by plucking an orange blossom from his daughter’s bridal bouquet and using its pollen to fertilize a garden cucumber flower. That being said, it’s pure nonsense. It’s just a cucumber. It carries no citrus genes. You can’t cross a cucumber, which is in the squash family, with a plant that’s in the citrus family. That would be like crossing a dog with an ostrich. In reality, the lemon cucumber is probably just a very ancient cucumber. Suspicions are that not only did the lemon cucumber’s ancestors originate in India, but that it was also developed as a crop there. Today Indian farmers grow a wide range of shapes, colors, textures and flavors of cucumbers and the lemon cucumber wouldn’t even stand out from the crowd. So, if you hate the taste of cucumbers, see if you can find yourself a lemon cucumber. The lack of bitterness and ease of digestion just might make it your new favorite snack.
