Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Why Cucumbers are Spiky

Keyword analysis entry #4

As far as I know, cucumbers are spiky because this helps to prevent the cuke from being eaten by hungry beasties. Some people are not aware that cukes even have spikes because they are only familiar with the grocery store variety. Most grocery store cucumbers are "tumbled" after picking to remove the spikes. Many are also waxed with an edible (at least reasonably) food wax to give them that lovely gloss. Another possibility for spike-free cukes is finding one of those varieties that has the spikes bred out. This is contrary to cucumber nature, but then again, so are a lot of things.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There are so many things contrary to cucumber nature. Being forced to dance while dressed in a dirndl, for example. If you can get a cucumber to do that, my hat's off to you.