Down on the Allotment

Matron grows vegetables and fruit in a Hampshire garden. I've been growing veggies since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Some traditional varieties and old favourites as well as new ideas. I share my garden with my allotment assistant Daisy the Labrador. On Twitter as @MatronsVeggies

Sunday, August 15, 2010

My Furry Cucumber!

This Spring I was fortunate to obtain some cucumber seeds from Mas Du Diable in a seed swap. The origins of this variety of cucumber are little known, but they are supposed to have been grown by one family in Bari, Italy for many generations. The old man in this family said that this variety had been handed down through the generations but he was afraid that he now had no-one in his family who were interested in keeping it going. Thus, these seeds were handed over.
It is believed to be from the genus cucumis melo - which is a cucumber which is more related to a melon, hence this furry jacket that you sometimes feel on melons.
After picking you just gently rub the furry jacket off under some water...
And you are left with a beautiful, pale, lunch-box sized cucumber.
That tastes wonderful! Mild, crispy and refreshing. The texture is just a little bit wetter and less dense than a usual cucumber - I can see where the close relationship to the melon family comes in here. So far, this is the only one on the plant this year. Fingers crossed for a couple more, they were delicious.

18 Comments:

At 8:50 PM, Blogger Mal's Allotment said...

That's some lunchbox, Matron!

 
At 9:48 PM, Anonymous Damo said...

They look great Matron.

 
At 10:48 PM, Blogger Bangchik and Kakdah said...

Interesting how cucumbers come in various clothing... Fur is definitely unusual. The one I grew recently came in naked...... Hope many more cucumbers come out from your special plant... ~bangchik

 
At 2:21 AM, Blogger Kalena Michele said...

Beautiful cukes! I'll look into getting these cucumbers for next year.

 
At 12:21 PM, Blogger tina said...

Very cool cucumber! I think it is beautiful and the mild taste is a bonus. How cool to grow such a neat thing.

I was looking thru all your veggies and blackberries. Wow! They are looking awesome. The frog is too cute. P.S. Yes! Talledega counts:)

 
At 1:53 PM, Blogger My Chutney Garden said...

Wow. A furry cucumber. That's very cool!! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if it would grow in the tropics?

 
At 4:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Another Cucumis melo is the "Armenian Cucumber", which is also known as Serpent Melon, or Snake Melon. It's never fuzzy, but also has tender skin, and is a very nice "cucumber".

 
At 10:24 PM, Blogger Peggy said...

Hi Matron,you are always coming up with something different from your garden!Furry cucumbers are new to me, our common or garden ones are a disaster this year for some reason so trying to grow anything even slightly exotic is out. You have a great harvest in the previous post.

 
At 4:17 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Came by to admire your produce, the furry cucumbers are quite grand...since my husband died,I am no longer "Annie's 24 x 24 Garden" (the garden was for him to enjoy out his window), I'm now "Theanne and Baron.....starting over". I'm happy the "gnome is coming home." what an excellent journey he had around the world. Theanne aka Annie

 
At 1:51 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

What a different look after the fur has been washed away! Something I've not seen before. Cucumber is one of my favourite vegetables.

 
At 12:47 PM, Blogger Carrie said...

Oh this is a new one on me. I've seen them with spikes but not fur - that must be one fancy pants cucumber, though I hope they only wear fake fur - hahaha(I make myself laugh and that's all that matters *blush*)

 
At 4:21 PM, Anonymous Emma said...

That is very special :)

 
At 2:22 AM, Blogger Thomas said...

How interesting! The de-fuzzed skin looks very thin and delicate. I wish more cukes were like that .

 
At 1:43 AM, Anonymous Lou Murray's Green World said...

Hi Matron. Greetings from Southern California, USA. I would be interested in obtaining some seeds from this cucumber, if you're into seed saving. I recently joined Seed Savers Exchange and would be happy to spread this cucumber around here in the states. I would hate to see it die out.

 
At 7:06 AM, Blogger Matron said...

Lou - that is important, to keep these going. This is my only cucumber so far this year. I have a few miniscule furry growths on another plant, yet to see if it comes to anything. I will certainly offer up seeds if I get any.

 
At 4:20 PM, Anonymous Laura said...

Hi Matron
Glad you liked the Bari Cucs
Just to note that if you want the plants to produce more cucs they need to be harvested before they start to swell a belly if you know what I mean - Obviously for seed saving they need to be left till fully mature. The cucs swell much bigger and loose their hair when they are fully matire and start to taste sweeter more like a melon. I put up a page about this cuc on my blog www.masdudiable.com

 
At 10:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello everyone! Does anyone have any furry cucumber seeds they would like to trade for some other seeds? (flowers, veg and more... I have all sorts) Many thanks! :D Tanya www.valle-maggia.ch

 
At 10:13 PM, Blogger Jay said...

That looks like a Mezzo Lungo di Polignano from Bari. Very tasty cucumber variety! I grow these and many other cucumber-melon and Carosello varieties. They are often less suseptable to disease in my climate. I enjoy them for eating because they are always bitter-free and burpless.

 

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