Yes, they both belong to the same gourd family “Cucurbitaceae” and the gherkin
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30 St Mary Axe, informally known as The Gherkin, is a commercial skyscraper in London's primary financial district, the City of London. It was completed in December 2003 and opened in April 2004. With 41 floors, it is 180 metres tall and stands on the former sites of the Baltic Exchang…
What is a sour gherkin?
Thanks to its odd appearance and elusive history, the Mexican sour gherkin is always confused with a cucumber or pickled cucumber. To confuse matters even further, it is also referred to as “cucamelon” or “mouse melon”. And did you know: A commercial London skyscraper is also nicknamed...
What are cucamelons (sour gherkins)?
Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers, otherwise referred to as cucamelon, mouse melon and in Spanish, sandita or little watermelon. What exactly are cucamelons and what other cucamelon info can we dig up? Let’s find out! What are Cucamelons? Native growing Mexican sour gherkins hail from Mexico (of course) and Central America.
Are all small cucumbers gherkins?
It is important to note, however, that not all small cucumbers are gherkins. Gherkins are a specific cucumber (and eventually pickle) that have a uniquely sour taste. Apart from size, it may be hard to tell a gherkin apart from a sour pickle. But when you bite into one, you will know for sure.
What is a Mexican sour gherkin cucumber?
In flavor, Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers (Melothria scabra) are similar to cucumber with a fresh, tangy, succulent flavor. They can be used sautéed, pickled or fresh in salads with no need to peel the little beauties. Additional Cucamelon Plant Info Cucamelon is not actually a cucumber.
Are gherkins sweet or sour?
3. Taste: Gherkins and pickles can be sweet or savory. Gherkins are typically flavored with garlic and dill, but they can also be sweet. French gherkins, known as cornichons, are flavored with dill and sometimes feature additional herbs and spices, such as tarragon or pepper.
Are gherkin pickles sour?
The mature fruit are about the size of a grape and have watermelon-like spotted green and white skin. The insides are full of tender seeds. Cucamelons taste much like a standard cucumber but with a little added sour pop, reminiscent of lemon or lime.
Are gherkins the same as pickles?
What is the difference between a gherkin and a pickle? The only difference is really where you live. In America, they call gherkins pickles, even though a pickle is technically any vegetable that's been pickled.
What do raw gherkins taste like?
When eaten raw, some say gherkins taste like firmer, sometimes bitter cucumbers. Gherkins feature a high water content, and this texture changes after being soaked in a brine solution as the solution replaces the water in the process.
Which pickles are sour?
Genuine Dill Pickles The most common pickle, dills are whole cucumbers pickled with dill weed and dill seed. They're known for their sour taste and their iconic packing—served whole or vertically sliced with the iconic Vlasic seal.
Can you eat gherkins Raw?
Gherkins are often pickled with salt and vinegar for winter storage, but can also be eaten raw in a salad. Their tough warty skins means they may have to be peeled first if eating fresh.
What gherkins do Mcdonalds use?
McDonald's uses kosher pickle slices in its burgers and on its sandwiches but doesn't use the typical cucumbers you find in a deli or grocery store. They have specially-made pickles for their burgers and sandwiches.
Are gherkins good for gut health?
Pickles are also high in particular types of fibre that feed beneficial gut bacteria, acting as prebiotics – food for the probiotic gut bacteria. Studies have shown that adding fermented vegetables to your diet may help with digestion and manage symptoms of constipation and diarrhoea.
Why do Brits call pickles gherkins?
The word gherkin comes from early modern Dutch, gurken or augurken for "small pickled cucumber". Cornichons are tart French pickles made from gherkins pickled in vinegar and tarragon. They traditionally accompany pâtés and cold cuts. Sweet gherkins, which contain sugar in the pickling brine, are also a popular variety.
What is the difference between gherkins and pickled cucumbers?
Gherkins are a smaller kind of cucumber that have been pickled, while pickles are cucumbers that have been pickled in brine or vinegar. 2. Gherkins are pickles, whereas pickles are not gherkins, they may just be pickling cucumbers.
What's the difference between a gherkin and a cucumber?
The gherkin is in fact smaller and crunchier than pickle. Simply put, a pickled gherkin is crispier than a pickled cucumber.
Are pickles just cucumbers?
Pickles are Cucumbers Crunchy, sour, salty or sweet – pickles all start the same way, as cucumbers! Cucumbers grow on vines or on a cucumber bush. They like hot temperatures and a lot of water! Kirby or Persian cucumbers are often used for pickling.
What's the difference between a dill pickle and a gherkin?
Both the seeds and leaves can be used to turn pickles/gherkins into dill pickles. Therefore gherkins aren't the same as dill itself. However, gherkins are the same as dill pickles. The difference is that gherkins aren't seasoned with the dill herb, whereas dill pickles are seasoned with it.
Are all pickles sour?
Not all pickles are sour. Bread-and-butter pickles, for example, have a distinctly sweet taste because sugar and other sweeteners are added to the brine. Like tomatoes, cucumbers (and thus, pickles) are technically fruits.
What gherkins do Mcdonalds use?
McDonald's uses kosher pickle slices in its burgers and on its sandwiches but doesn't use the typical cucumbers you find in a deli or grocery store. They have specially-made pickles for their burgers and sandwiches.
What is a full sour pickle?
Full-sour means full-flavor! Full of garlic, a saltier taste that has a nostalgic taste of a NY deli. These pickles are softer because it had been in the brine for over 3 months! Ingredients: fresh cucumbers, water, salt, natural flavors, spices, garlic, calcium chloride, potassium sorbate.
Do McDonald’s use pickles or gherkins?
McDonald’s makes some of the most famous and popular burgers in the world and their recipes have long been examined by fans and competitors to try...
Is gherkin the same as dill?
Dill is a herb that is used to season pickles/gherkins to add extra flavor, which creates the famous dill pickle. Both the seeds and leaves can be...
Can you eat gherkins without pickling?
It depends on your definition of what a gherkin is.Some say that gherkins have to be pickled to become a gherkin, as it’s an integral part of the p...
What is a gherkin?
A gherkin is, very basically, a close relative of the cucumber. But it is not the kind of super long and hard cucumber that you would find in the grocery store and would put in a salad. Gherkins are a specific kind of cucumber. They are the kind that is most often used for pickling.
What is a pickle?
Where you are in the world is the most important factor in answering this question. Knowing that there is an important difference between “a pickle” and “pickle” is also relevant to this question.
Types
So, now you know the difference between a pickle and a gherkin in the most general sense. There are a few complications. For example, “gherkin” is used as the name for a pickled gherkin cucumber.
Types of Pickled Foods
Pickling is a common method of preserving food that is used across the world. Gherkins are just one kind of food that is pickled.
The Pickling Process
Now that you know the difference (or lack of difference) between a gherkin and a pickle and pickle, it’s important to know how exactly you pickle a food.
FAQ: Facts About Gherkins and Pickles
Gherkins and pickles are some of the most confused and misunderstood foods in the world. Their similarities are clear to anyone who has eaten them, but their names are different so that must mean they are different, right?
Cucamelon Harvest Info – Learn How To Harvest A Cucamelon Plant
Cucamelon is a fun, diminutive veggie and a great addition to the garden. Knowing how to harvest a cucamelon, though, is not obvious, so it is important to understand how and when these fruits ripen and how to know when they're best to pick and eat. This article will help.
What Are Cucamelons: How To Plant Mexican Sour Gherkins
What looks just like a doll-sized watermelon, is actually referred to as a cucumber but really isn't a cucumber at all? Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers. Learn more about this interesting plant in this article. Click here for additional info.
How to Plant Cucamelon
Cucamelons are usually direct-sown in the garden after all danger of frost has passed in the spring. The seeds germinate and sprout in seven to 14 days and reach maturity in 60 to 70 days.
Cucamelon Plant Care
Cucamelons grow best in full sun, meaning at least six hours of direct sunlight on most days. But they can tolerate a bit of shade and might appreciate some afternoon shade in hot climates.
Types of Cucamelon
Cucamelon is a unique heirloom plant with no cultivars or hybrids developed.
Cucamelon vs. Cucumber
Cucamelons look a lot like tiny cucumbers, and they have a similar flavor. But there are some clear differences. Cucamelons have slightly more of a rounded appearance while cucumbers are more elongated—not to mention that cucamelons are generally much smaller than cucumbers.
Harvesting Cucamelon
Harvest cucamelons when they are no more than 1 inch in diameter. If you let them grow larger, they will become seedy and much less palatable. Make sure to check for fruit at least every other day, starting around 60 days after planting. To avoid damaging the vines, cut the fruits off the vine rather than pulling.
How to Grow Cucamelon in Pots
If you don't have the garden space for cucamelons, growing them in a container paired with a trellis is a great option to maximize your vertical space. Unlike other vegetable vines, cucamelons are relatively lightweight even when loaded with fruit, so there is less risk of them toppling over. Use at least a 5-gallon container with drainage holes.
Pruning
Pinch back the tips of vines in the spring and early summer to encourage more branching. This consequently will result in more flowering and fruiting.
Historical origins
It is often claimed that pickled cucumbers were first developed for workers building the Great Wall of China, though another hypothesis is that they were first made in the Tigris Valley of Mesopotamia, using cucumbers brought originally from India.
Types
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Nutrition
Like pickled vegetables such as sauerkraut, sour pickled cucumbers (technically a fruit) are low in calories. They also contain a moderate amount of vitamin K, specifically in the form of K 1. 30-gram sour pickled cucumber offers 12–16 µg, or approximately 15–20%, of the Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin K.
Serving
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Etymology
The term pickle is derived from the Dutch word pekel, meaning brine. In the United States and Canada, the word pickle alone refers to a pickled cucumber (other types of pickles will be described as "pickled onion", "pickled beets", etc.).
Dill Pickles
When you think of the quintessential apple in your head, you probably think of a Red Delicious or a Granny Smith. Sure, there are dozens of apples out there, but those are the most famous two tried-and-true types. Similarly, when you think of an average pickle in your head, you are probably thinking of a dill.
Half-Sour and Sour Pickles
Anybody who has had a sour or half-sour pickle before knows quite well that they taste different and look a bit different from the dill pickle. Sour and half-sour are almost always left in their original cucumber shape after they shrink, but the similarities end there.
Bread and Butter Pickles
While no actual bread or butter is used to make this type of pickle, it achieved its name from, essentially, being the pickle’s bread and butter. This style is quite different from the previous two but is just as famous. There is also an excellent chance you have never seen a whole, uncut bread and butter pickle before.
Gherkin Pickles
Gherkin pickles are derived from gherkin cucumbers. Easy. But what is a gherkin cucumber? That is the more complicated question. A gherkin cucumber is a smaller version of a regular cucumber genetically quite a bit different from the original.
Cinnamon Pickles
If you have ever received a pickle that is red before, they are not lying to you: that is indeed a pickle. Though we are used to most pickles’ standard green color, these ones look nothing of the sort. Cinnamon pickles are a sharp red color and are typically chopped up into small pieces when put in the jar .
Candied Pickles
You have heard of candied pickles before, just like you may have had candied bacon or candied apples. Foods that are “candied” do not actually become candy like Starbursts or Skittles, though. Instead, candied foods like candied pickles are coated in sugar that is then allowed to harden.
Hungarian Pickles
Perhaps just as fascinating as the candied pickle is the Hungarian pickle that, yes, was invented in Hungary. You may have seen them before: jars in the pickle section that just look like they are filled with big yellow blobs. It certainly looks odd if you do not know what it is, so you probably took one look and moved on.
Sour Gherkins (Cornichons)
Use the tiniest cucumbers you can find for these perfectly crunchy sour gherkins (aka. Cornichons).
Instructions
Make a brine with 1 part salt and 8 parts water, or 2 tablespoons of salt to each cup of water. Soak the tiny cucumbers for a few hours or overnight.