Avomaankurkku - Field cucumber

Avo­maan­kurk­ku – Field cu­cum­ber
Cu­cu­mis sa­ti­vus

Cu­cur­bi­ta­ce­ae –hei­mo, kurk­ku­kas­vit

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Avo­maan­kurk­ku on kas­vi­huo­ne­kur­kun ly­hyt ja ro­soi­nen ka­ve­ri. Se kas­vaa köyn­nös­tä­väs­ti ja kuk­kii kel­tai­sin ku­kin, jois­ta kur­kut sit­ten ke­hit­ty­vät suo­jaa­maan kur­kun sie­me­niä.

Kurk­kua tie­de­tään syö­neen jo yli kym­men­tu­hat­ta vuot­ta sit­ten Kaak­kois-Aa­si­as­sa. Kii­nan ja Lähi-Idän kaut­ta se pää­tyi Eu­roop­paan, mis­sä sitä alet­tiin kes­ki­a­jal­la vil­jel­lä en­sin ylä­luok­kai­sis­sa puu­tar­hois­sa ja sit­ten kau­pal­li­ses­ti.

Avo­maan­kurk­ku on vih­reä herk­ku, jota kan­nat­taa käyt­tää sel­lai­se­naan, vaik­ka sa­laa­tis­sa tai lei­vän pääl­lä. Li­säk­si se on omi­aan kes­kel­lä pi­me­ää tal­vea suo­la-, etik­ka- tai ha­pan­säi­lyk­kee­nä. Kiin­te­ää kurk­kua voi myös gril­la­ta tai pais­taa kesä­kur­pit­san ta­paan. Kurk­ku si­säl­tää hi­ven- ja ki­ven­näis­ai­nei­ta ja on jopa 97 pro­sent­ti­ses­ti vet­tä, jol­loin se nes­teyt­tää te­hok­kaas­ti ja saat­taa aut­taa esi­mer­kik­si ve­ren­pai­nee­seen.

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Field cu­cum­ber
Cu­cu­mis sa­ti­vus

The two ty­pes of cu­cum­ber most fa­mi­li­ar to us are field cu­cum­ber so­me­ti­mes known as gher­kins and green­hou­se cu­cum­bers. Alt­hough the­se dif­fer in ap­pe­a­ran­ce, they are just two dif­fe­rent va­rie­ties of the same plant se­lec­ted to be grown in dif­fe­rent con­di­ti­ons. All cu­cum­bers need a warm en­vi­ron­ment to grow (20-25c), the smal­ler field va­rie­ties are ho­we­ver har­dier and will to­le­ra­te coo­ler con­di­ti­ons me­a­ning they can be grown out­doors in Fin­land. It must be re­mem­be­red that even the sligh­test hint of a frost will dest­roy them.

Field cu­cum­bers take about 50-60 days to grow vi­nes up to 1m long from which grow hai­ry le­a­ves and the yel­low flo­wers from which the fruits de­ve­lop. The fruits are usu­al­ly bet­ween 8-12cm long and are of­ten co­ve­red to va­rying deg­rees in bumps, soft spi­nes and rid­ges. Seeds must be sown into warm moist soil and the crop grown in a shel­te­red sun­ny lo­ca­ti­on with amp­le ma­nu­re and or­ga­nic fer­ti­li­zer. The crop must be kept well-wa­te­red and free from weeds.

Har­ves­ting should be­gin as soon as the first fruits re­ach the de­si­red size, and they are at their best when still slight­ly im­ma­tu­re. Re­mo­ving the fruits will sti­mu­la­te the la­ter fruits to grow and the plant to pro­du­ce more flo­wers, this way it should be pos­sib­le to har­vest up to 1kg from each plant over a pe­ri­od of 2-4 weeks.

Field cu­cum­bers are ea­ten fresh, fer­men­ted in bri­ne or pick­led. They con­tain over 97% wa­ter and have li­mi­ted but va­lu­ab­le nut­ri­ti­ous va­lue, it is their sweet mild fla­vour and ease to use and pre­pa­re that make them po­pu­lar, the low mi­ne­ral and vi­ta­min con­tent supp­le­men­ting our diet. At the cor­rect tem­pe­ra­tu­re of 10 – 12c fresh cu­cum­bers can be sto­red for about 1 week.

Qu­a­li­ty prob­lems inc­lu­de size when too lar­ge, age when left on the plant too long re­sul­ting in a bit­ter fla­vour, and in­cor­rect or pro­lon­ged sto­ra­ge ma­king them soft. Young slight­ly im­ma­tu­re and not lar­ge or even slight­ly over­ri­pe fruits are most sui­tab­le for first class pre­ser­va­ti­on pro­ducts.