Since its emergence 4000 years ago, cucumber (cucumber) has spread beyond the borders of India to Ancient Greece, Rome, Europe, America and China, becoming the fourth most widely grown vegetable in the world today. During this journey, cucumber (cucumber) was considered an integral part of the cuisine of many cultures, but sometimes it was also treated as a plant believed to bring disease.
Early Indian civilization, BC. Around 2-3 thousand years ago, he started to use cucumber (cucumber) on his tables. With the increasing production capacity over time, BC. In the 1st millennium B.C., Indian civilization even started trading with cucumber (cucumber), Middle Eastern civilization, and Europe. Even examples of this can be found in the epic of Gilgamesh .
The Greek civilization, which later met the cucumber (cucumber), named this vegetable síkyon (σίκυον) . In the same period, cucumber (cucumber) reached the geography of Turkey, Bulgaria, Africa, Italy and today's Serbia.
Cucumber (cucumber) has been a vegetable consumed with pleasure in the tables of both nobles and lower classes, regardless of class, in the Roman Empire. The ease of production and the wide variety of varieties and flavors kept the cucumber (cucumber) popular in Italy for several centuries.
Besides being edible, cucumber (cucumber) has also been used as a source of more than 40 drugs. Vision disorders, scorpion bites and treatment of spouses who want to have children are some of them.
The desire of Emperor Tiberius (AD14-16) to eat cucumber (cucumber) every day of the year in Ancient Rome made cucumber (cucumber) popular during this short reign. During this period, private gardens are cultivated to grow cucumbers (cucumbers) in the summer; In the winter period, the moving growing beds illuminated with mirrored stones were moved to see the sun.
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After the fall of the Roman Empire, the cucumber (cucumber) lost its popularity for a long time. Cucumber (cucumber), which was introduced to the English in the 14th century, did not receive enough attention until the middle of the 17th century.
The Age of Discovery is the most important factor in the spread of cucumber all over the world. The first cucumbers (cucumbers) were brought to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1494 to Haiti. In the 16th century, European hunters in North America introduced cucumbers to the native Indians of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. When the locals saw the nutritive potential and potential inherent in cucumbers and watermelons, they immediately integrated it into their fields. The best Native American cucumber farmers were located in the lands of North and South Dakota.
In the 18th century, when several medical journals mentioned that cucumbers and similar uncooked vegetables pose serious health risks, the spread of cucumber in North America stopped abruptly and declined sharply until the 19th century.
Today, worldwide cucumber (cucumber) production is approximately 90 million tons, and with 70 million tons of production, China is the world's largest cucumber (cucumber) producer.