Cucumbers was [Sca-cooks] 2002 Cook's Symposium

[Decker, Terry D.]

Pliny writes that the Emperor Tiberius ate them daily.  The assumption is
the Romans carried them to the far reaches of the Empire such as Gaul and
Britain.  I tend to agree with this assumption, but it should be considered
unproven.

According to some sources, cucumbers were unknown in Northern Europe until
fairly late, but the pear shaped variety appear in Leonard Fuch's Primi de
stirpivm... of 1545 as Cucumis sativus vulgaris among a series of cucurbits
including at least one New World squash (identifiable by the ribbed stem).

The earliest reference I've heard of in England is 14th Century during the
reign of Edward III.  It is presumably from a list of seeds by Roger,
gardener to the Archbishop of Cantebury.  I haven't verified this.  They
seem to disappear from the literature and reappear during the reign of Henry
VIII (William Turner, A New Herball (1551) and Thomas Hill, The Gardener's
Labyrinth (1577).

Linguistically, cucumber is derived from the Middle English, "cucomer,"
which in turn derives from the Old French, "coucombre," which is derived
from the Latin.  Old French runs from approximately the 9th to 16th
Centuries, while Middle English is 12th to 16th Centuries.  I haven't
checked the OED yet.

In case you're interested, here is the list of garden items found in
Capitulii LXX of Chalemagne's Capitulare de Villis (c. 800):

Volumus quod in horto omnes herbas habeant, id est lilium, rosas,
fenigrecum, costum, salviam, rutam, abrotanum, cucumeres, pepones,
cucurbitas, fasiolum, ciminum, ros marinum, careium, cicerum italicum,
squillam, gladiolum, dragantea, anesum, coloquentidas, solsequiam, ameum,
silum, lactucas, git, eruca alba, nasturtium, parduna, puledium, olisatum,
petresilinum, apium, levisticum, savinam, anetum, fenicolum, intubas,
diptamnum, sinape, satureiam, sisimbrium, mentam, mentastrum, tanazitam,
neptam, febrefugiam, papaver, betas, vulgigina, mismalvas, id est altaea,
malvas, carvitas, pastenacas, adripias, blidas, ravacaulos, caulos, uniones,
britlas, porros, radices, ascalonicas, cepas, alia, warentiam, cardones,
fabas maiores, pisos mauriscos, coriandrum, cerfolium, lacteridas,
sclareiam. Et ille hortulanus habeat super domum suam Iovis barbam.


Cucumeres should be the cucumbers.  While not on the current topic, I find
the references to fasiolum and fabas maiores interesting.  Apparently,
Charlemagne was directing that "black eyed peas" or a Vigna equivalent be
grown, giving us a reference to them between Pliny and Platina.

Bear

> I have a question. When can you document cucumbers coming
> into England? We
> know they were known in France-- they reputedly show up in
> Charlemagne's
> regulations--, and in England by the time of Thomas Hill.
>
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa   jenne at fiedlerfamily.net