Cucumber

Native to the foothills of Himalayas, cucumber is a typical plant of warm temperate climate. It is cultivated in rainy areas and it is available in two different varieties, which are used in different ways in cooking. There are three varieties: large-fruited cucumber (for salads), small-fruited cucumber (used to pickling) and long cucumber (high-digestibility cucumber). If cucumber is sliced and salted, it will be lost water without losing its freshness and flavour.

Tiberius the glutton
The Roman Emperor Tiberius was famous for being a cucumbers lover, enough to improve the cultivation in greenhouse of these vegetables, in order to guarantee the annual availability.

Soilless cucumbers
How to cultivate tastier cucumber more quickly? By means of a new cultivation in greenhouse method experimented in Emilia-Romagna (Italy), the plant is placed into contact with a substratum of rockwool along narrow channels made of aluminium. This treatment allows a higher productivity, an easier and uniform irrigation and a lower risk of contamination.

The food festival of San Donato (Lecce, Apulia) is an unmissable event to taste the “cucummari”.