Cucumber

Cucumbers trace back roughly 3,000 years to the foothills of the Himalayas in present-day India, where the wild ancestor of Cucumis sativus still grows today. From there, cultivation spread west into Persia and the Mediterranean in ancient times -- the Roman historian Pliny the Elder recorded Emperor Tiberius's fondness for cucumbers grown year-round in wheeled carts moved to follow the sun, an early form of season extension.

Cucumbers reached China by the 2nd century BC along Han Dynasty trade routes and were introduced to England by the 14th century, though they briefly fell out of favor there during the 17th century over unfounded fears that raw vegetables were unhealthy. European colonists brought cucumbers to the Americas in the 16th century, and the crop is now grown commercially on every populated continent.

Not all cucumbers are interchangeable in the kitchen. Slicing cucumbers are bred for a thicker, darker skin and larger size meant for eating fresh, while pickling cucumbers are shorter, bumpier-skinned, and bred with a thinner skin that allows brine to penetrate quickly and evenly during fermentation or vinegar pickling.

Pickling varieties are also typically harvested smaller and younger than slicing types, since a full-sized pickling cucumber tends to develop hollow centers and a less crisp texture once processed. Using a slicing cucumber for pickling generally produces a softer, less crunchy result because its skin and flesh weren't bred for brine absorption.