The Crystal Apple cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is a wonderful and tender sweet cucumber that has thin skin that you can eat. They are about the size of a small apple and have an opaque creamy white color. The Crystal apple cucumber made its way to North America in 1930 thanks to Arthur Yates and Company from Sydney, Australia but almost became extinct as it lost popularity in the 20th century. Today, The Armenian Cucumber is experiencing a rise in popularity as heirloom fruits and vegetables become more and more a part of our diets.
It is believed that heirloom cucumbers are native to India, and originally had an extremely bitter taste, but through breeding techniques and the process of phenotype selection they were made easier to enjoy by breeding the bitterness out by the 7th century BC. Cucumbers were further developed in Chin and Japan where they evolved into a sweater fruit that we enjoy today, and the Romans and Greeks developed ways of preserving them. They became popular to use in Juice and for pickles during the Victorian era.
More plants?Come to the Garden of Eat’n and discover our 2021 varieties.