The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-03-08
ABOUT THE CUCUMBER.


ed member of the vegetable king
dom. At least it is if we may judge
by the variety of its uses. From
America to Asia Minor it appears as
an article of food on dinner tables
and supper tables, all over the civil
lied world. But that does not ex-
haust its possibilities by any means.
In Egypt it is made to yield a pleas
ant cooling drink by ingenious treat
ment. A hole is cut in the cucum-
Der, the pulp is broken and stirred
with a stick, and the hole closed with
wax. The cucumber, still fastened
to its stem, is lowered into a pit.
After few days the juice ferments,
and the Egyptian drawing it off has a
liquor exactly suited to his taste.
When my lady wishes to allay sum
burn or to soften and whiten the
skin, on general principles she calls
for cucumber soap or cucumber cream.
The very name makes her think that
the preparation must be harmless as
we'll as eficacious, and the Beau
Brummels of today use cucumber
pomade with the same sense of se-
curity.
Then pickles-what is more uni
versally popular than the pickle, and
what new-fangled invention can bear
comparison with the old-fashioned
time-honored cucumber pickle From
the days of kits and pinafores when
boys and girls ate huge penny pickle
with surreptitious bites, to the days
of formal dinners, when baby cucum-
bers appear as gherkins, what relish
sharpens hunger like pickle?
Yet the cucumber in its natural
state is at once the temptation and
the menace of the eating world.
Plump, green and inviting as it is,
doctors who have delicate digestions
in charge taboo it. The average man
eats it cheerfully, but with sneak
ing fear of consequences. Mental
science should turn its attention to
cucumbers for while. If it should
convince the universal mind that Gu
cumbers were in reality digestible and
could issue guarantee with every
cucumber sold, the digestive woe of
humanity would be wonderfully light
ened.
In the meantime household scien-
lists have advanced to the rescue.
Nothing is beyond them. They have
reduced the most illogical Of foods to
their principles. They have discov-
cred the innermost sources of the
squash and the potato and all their
kith and kin. With persistent dill
gence they have tabulated foods ac-
cording to their nutritive value, and
by following these tables the poorest
woman in the slums can learn how to
keep home happy, and her husband
well fed on ten cents day.
Now cucumbers do not stand high
in their list. They are among the
ornaments. They represent the ac-
cessories, the poetry of diet as it were.
But, however, these modern scientists
have lessened the ancient prestige of
the cucumber they show how it can
be made digestible at least.
Buy medium-sized cucumber to
serve raw is the first OF the modern
rules for the hygienic housekeeper.
It should be good green and firm
to the touch. Remove thinly skins
from both ends and cut off thick
pairing. This is important because
the cucumber contains a bitter prin-
ciple, and much of it lies near the
skin and the stem end. Not a trace
of green should be seen when the
pairing is finished. The cucumber
should then be cut into slices, wafer
thin, and put into salt and water.
Let not the unwary cook be led to
think that this will make them brit
tie and crisp, however. They will
be as fabby as celery a week old
but digestible.
Since most people prefer their Gu
cumbers crisp or not at all, tEis meth
cd finds little favor except among in
valids and incurables. But cold water
without the salt answers almost the
same purpose, and the cucumbers
come out after their soaking as fresh
and tender as if they had Just been
picked from the vines. Drained and
covered with crushed ice and served
they make a dish fit for a king.
Kings, indeed, have appreciated the
value of the cucumber from time i'm
memorial.
For the cucumber, as far as lineage
goes, is an aristocrat among the veg
etables /; not a mere inter1oper a few
paltry centuries old, like the potato.
Even in Bible times it was eaten and
enjoyed under the name of mandrake.
Pliny sets the seal of royal approval
on it by telling that the Emperor
Tiberius had cucumbers served at his
table every day. How many other
Emperors may have laid up for them
selves indigestion by unrecorded list.
But in digestive war of the vegeta-
bles cucumbers could undoubtedly
carry off the honors for the most
mischief done to mankind.
How Tiberius liked his cucumbers
Pliny does not say. But for ordinary
everyday use modern taste prefers
them raw. For sale occasions, or
when few extra frills are desirable,
cucumbers may be served in more
unusual ways. Old ones. too large
and tough to be good raw, are deli
cious boiled. For three or four per-
sons two large cncumbers are enough.
Pare them, cut into lengths of three
or four inches, half them and remove
seeds. Put into boiling water, salted
leave them until they are tender
serve in a hot vegetable dish and if
desired put melted butter over them.
After boiling they may be mashed