Some cukes about ready to harvest, la, la, la, la, la!

Anybody know why infant cukes have those "spines" all over, whch kinds
smooth down in maturity?

A defense mechanism for critters that would eat them in tender stage?

Inquiring minds...

--

Persephone

I'd like to know, too. They stay on mine. Kinda sharp. The armenian cukes
don't get them/
roz
az usa

They stay on mine too, but don't seem to influence the flavor or anything.

They can really stab you while washing them off. I just put them in my sink
and scrub off the spines with a devoted little nylon pot scrubber, and they
clean up fine.
the spines come right off, and only leave a little white spot to show that they
were ever there.

but if you find a defense mechanism, or some reason why they grow those bad
boys, let me know too. It would make sense that it was to deter critters from
trying to eat them, but on the other hand, some plants just won't grow at all
until the seeds are eaten. It's a wild, wild world we live in!

anyways, keep the updates with any research you might have performed.

Do they still taste ok? that's really the acid test!

later
john

I'm just guessing here, but I think that they are part of the female
reproductive structure of the cuke. I forgot all my botanical terms, but,
I think that they are the parts which allow the male pollen to get to the
"egg" parts inside the tiny part of the female flower that eventually
becomes the cucmber. Once the flower has been fertilized these structures
are no longer needed and gradually sever themselves from the cuke. Just
speculation on my part, but I used to study botany a long time ago.

wrote:

Some cukes about ready to harvest, la, la, la, la, la!

Anybody know why infant cukes have those "spines" all over, whch kinds
smooth down in maturity?

A defense mechanism for critters that would eat them in tender stage?

Inquiring minds...

--

Persephone

On 18 Jul 2003 18:27:33 GMT, (JohnDKestell)
wrote:

They stay on mine too, but don't seem to influence the flavor or anything.

They can really stab you while washing them off. I just put them in my sink
and scrub off the spines with a devoted little nylon pot scrubber, and they
clean up fine.
the spines come right off, and only leave a little white spot to show that they
were ever there.

but if you find a defense mechanism, or some reason why they grow those bad
boys, let me know too. It would make sense that it was to deter critters from
trying to eat them, but on the other hand, some plants just won't grow at all
until the seeds are eaten. It's a wild, wild world we live in!

anyways, keep the updates with any research you might have performed.

Do they still taste ok? that's really the acid test!

YUM!!!

Breakfast sandwich: New cukes sliced thin, tomatoes, hardboiled egg,
mayo, lemon juice -- on toasted corn rye.

Ecstacy!