The pumpkin family unites different species and varieties that are difficult to suspect of a “blood” relationship with our green favorite. But unusual fruits are little by little conquering our beds and replenishing our diet.
Cucumbers come in different varieties - white, yellow, red...
We are used to the fact that cucumber is the embodiment of green. Even in a popular children's song about a grasshopper, the color of this insect is compared to a “cucumber.” However, not everything is so simple in the cucumber kingdom.
Nowadays, rarely anyone is surprised by a white-skinned cucumber - more than one hybrid with this color is known: White Crunch, White Angel, Snow Leopard, Snow White, White Anaconda and others. As a rule, they differ in size, jacket, and ripening time.
White crunch F1 is an early-ripening hybrid with delicate crispy pulp and small seeds.
Long-fruited White Dragon F1 - will delight you with its size and productivity. Good fresh!
Martini F1 is a bee-pollinated hybrid for open ground and film greenhouses. The pulp is a little sweeter than the usual greens. Light-skinned ones are easy to find in the garden bed, where they contrast with the foliage.
Cucumbers-lemons
Surely there are lovers of round fruits with yellow skin, which look more like lemons. The juicy pulp of the lemons has a delicately sweet taste. Consumed fresh, without storage or processing.
The Crystal Apple variety pleases with a rich harvest all season, and its seeds remain tender at all stages of maturity!
An amateur variety for open ground, Citron is characterized by abundant fruiting.
If you want to try something brighter, then other types of cucumbers from the pumpkin family, for example, momordica and kiwano, are especially attractive.
The reddest in the family
Momordica, or Karela, or spring bitter cucumber, is native to India and China. All parts of this vine are edible and useful. Of the many varieties of momordica, the most popular is momordica charantia, which grows well in open ground.
Momordica charantia has elongated fruits with large tubercles and grooves. During the ripening process, it changes color from green to deep yellow. The pulp is astringent, with a high content of quinine - it is recommended to consume it unripe. Edible seeds become tastier when ripe.
On sale you can find different varieties of this species, which differ slightly in size and shape: Yellow Dragon, Gosha, Drakosha, Jade, Naya.
Kiwano - African horned cucumber
An exotic African with an unusual appearance became popular not so long ago. The fruits are characterized by a high content of useful macro- and microelements. The green, marbled, spiked skin turns buffy-orange when ripe.
The African fruit consists of granular, completely edible pulp with a pleasant taste of several tropical plants: kiwi, pineapple, lemon combined with watermelon notes. Stores well indoors.
One variety of Kiwano is registered in Russia - Green Dragon, which is recommended for all regions. Fruits well in an unheated film greenhouse and open ground. Fruits weighing 150 g ripen on average in 80 days.
If you want to try non-traditional varieties of cucumber, then it’s easy to find seeds on sale and grow these unusual species in a garden bed or balcony.
