Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-24
CECITMRERG
An Old Preiudice-HistorIc Facts-VarI-
nus Uses.


Gus Uses.
Among the numerous surprises which
the progress of analytical science has
sprung upon our modern cuisine, says the
st. james Gazette, are two of very oppo-
site but equally interesting nature. One
is that the oyster, Notwithstanding his
high sounding traditions and exclusive
character, is after all little better than an
impostOr, being worth nutritiYely less
than his own weight in milk. The other
Is the announcement that the cucumber,
nearly always partaken of with certain
inward misgiYing as to consequences, is a
digestible, wholesome food; and that, well
grown and properly prepared, it may be
unhesitatingly received on a familiar
footing. This is something to say; for
prejudice has parleyed with the cucumber
in the character of a possible enemy for
more than 5000 years. Even within the
memory of John Evelyn it was accounted
in England as little better than poison.
and perhaps no other fruit ever succeeded
in inspiring the same amount of mingled
esteem and dread. Among ourselves the
latter feeling has till quite lately pre-
dominated; and most persons are familiar
with the Old-fashiOned advice to spare
your cucumber carefully, and after well
peppering it, cast it forthwith out of the
window into the kennel" So common
was the feeling thus expressed that Gay
made it the subjectO of smile in stanZa
Of the Begqdr's Opera:
When PolIy's drest with care and cost,
All tempting, fine, and gay,
AS men should serve a cucumber,
She filings herself away.
The origin of this prevailing idea it is
Ia n
ture. 1t is true that there are many Yari-
cites of the cucumber, some of which are
esteemed rather for their medicinal than
their edible virtues. Thus, the intensely
SPLITTER cOlOcynth of the druggist-the
bitter apple' of commercials the produce
of the kind known as CucunllS cOtOCynthiS;
nor is an occasional tendency to bitter
ness altogether absent in the common
cucumber. By far the greater number of
the family ares both palatable and whole
some. From time immemorial they have
been cultivated and eaten by the inhabi-
tants of the east and west, and especially
by the natives of Egypt and Asia, by
whom they are used Unfortunately as
a fruit or vegetable, being consumed
either raw or cooked, or picked in a great
many different ways. BY the luxurious
Romans the cucumber was also highly
priced; and so well did they understand
the habit and requirements of the plant
that its fruit has perhaps never since at
tanned higher standard. 1t was never
theless looked upon as questionable rtl-
Gle of consumption, and sometimes even
regarded as actively injurious; and this
notwithstanding the fact that Tiberius
insisted on the cucumber being constant
ly served at his repasts, and that the
fashion thus set had induced his weather.
subjects to bestow upon its cultivation all
the arts of which they were masters. The
common practice was to grow them in
frames covered with latim3 of tale;
though forcing by means of tlues or hot
water pipes was also resOrted to as well
as the plan Of raising the plants in large
vases which could be moved to receive
the constant warmth of the sun. Before
being sOWn, the seeds were invariably
stepped in honey; matter on which both
Virgil and Pliny have much TO say; the
latter, moreover, insisting that the fash
iOnable fruit was Of so unWhOle some kind
that at least two clear days should be
allowed for its digestion. At what date
this somewhat doubtful luxury was intro
duced into England is rather obscure. 1t
probably came to us Immediately from
thes Netherlands; but there is good rea-
son for considering it to have been COM
mon long before the period usually as
signed to its first appearance--the reign
of Henry VIII. But their Goodness"
! caused cucumbers to be universally
dreaded by the faculty of the Middle Ages.
The followers of Galen held them to be
''cold and moist in the second degree an
opinion not rendered much more explicit
! by the addition, that if they were but one
degree colder they would be poison.
/ With only its classic character to depend
/ on, it is not surprising, therefore, that our
ancestors did not take very kindly to the
cucumber. What virtues it had were for
/ a long time regarded as purely medicinal,
/ aud it once formed the foundation of a
| larger number of chemical preparations
/ than it does now even of culinary receipts.
AS matter of fact, 1t is not quite GER
! tain that we make the most of this dis
/ tinctiVe and refreshing product. The
! cucumber is best known by the average
| Englishman in connection with the salmon
an alliance which, both ON theoretical
! and practical grounds, is no doubt to be
/ highly commended. But its delicacy and
/ peculiar freshness upon the palate might
make it a fitting accompaniment of many
! more highly favored DLdtS than it is usual
| ly associated with. 1t seems almost
! hopeless to advocate it's more extended
! use as a vegetable pure and simple,
/ though it is thus amenable to treatment
4 in a variety of forms and with the most
| excellent results. Cucumber soup must
/ certainly take the palm from its cousin OF
! Palestine, though, strange to say, its APP
/ pearance at table is much less frequent.
/ In truth, with some employment of the
! rind of the cucumber in soup drinks,
! and with its stereOtyped appearance III
! subsequently, much OverpOwered with
! oil and Vinegar-we are sufficiently con-
! tent; and, though great artistes of the
! cuisine have occasionally elected its
higher possibilities, the Englishman is
! satisfied that these should make their APP
! peal to whom they may more nearly con-
Germ, There is, however, a use for the
! cucumber unaccredited and too little
/ known or appreciated. In the sick cham
/ Der, and when ice is with difficulty OBJ
| tanned, slices of cucumber laid upon hot
or aching head are supremely grateful
! and refreshing. In this form, indeed, the
! cucumber is worth all the washes and
| extracts that have ever been obtained
from 1t; though, as Culpeper informed his
! gentler reader, ''the juice of a cucumber
| is excellent good for sun-burning and
/ frack 49,