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Cowcumber is an obsolete form of the word cucumber, used mostly in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is pronounced KOW-kuhm-ber rather than KYOO-kuhm-ber. An alternate spelling in cowcoumber.
Cowcumber can also refer to "Cowcumber Magnolia", a colloquial name for the Bigleaf Magnolia. Native to the southeastern United States and eastern Mexico, the Bigleaf Magnolia has the largest simple leaf and single flower structures in North America.
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Where does the name cucumber come from?
Cucumber comes from the Medieval French coucombre, in time derived from the latin word cucumer and cucumis.Cucumer is the latin sub-word for Green (Cuc) Grower (Umer)
What is the history of a cucumber?
A cucumber is the fruit of a vine which grows from the ground upwards, using any available support; cultivated plants are grown on trellises. The plant is from Asia, originating in India, where it has been cultivated for at least three millennia; it's believed the Romans introduced it to Europe. The name 'cucumber' comes to us from Latin 'cucumis', the original meaning of which isn't known. The Latin word came into the French language and from there entered the English language in the fourteenth century. Previously the fruit was known as 'earth-apple' in Old English, and following the introduction of the French word was known in England as 'cowcumber' in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, possibly because it was considered fit only for cattle fodder, much as were other New World fruits considered by the English to be watery and almost-tasteless, such as zucchini, squash (melons) and choko (chayote). The cucumber fruit is used for pickling, eating raw, and in many cooked dishes, as well as for cosmetic uses. It is still used to cool the skin and eyes, and a scientific study in the 1970s confirmed the long-held folk belief in its cooling properties: it was discovered a cucumber in the field could, on a warm day, be up to 20 F (6.7 C) cooler than the ambient temperature. Naturally curved, farmers throughout the centuries have tried various ways to have the fruit grow straighter, eventually breeding for as straight varieties as possible. In 1988 the EEC introduced legislation requiring culinary-quality cucumbers to be nearly straight, giving measurements stating the degree of curvature allowed. The Chinese are said to have suspended stones from the ends of cucumbers as they grew on their trellises in order to have them grow straighter.
What were the cash crops in colonial Connecticut?
Colonial Connecticut's crops included herbs, flax, Maize (corn), beans, squash, oats, barley, lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, beets, carrots, radish, parsnip, pumpkin, tobacco, & small fruits & apples. "Some typical foods were the root crops, under-growing crops such as potatoes that were gathered and stored,... fruits that were pickled and preserved-a favorite for kids was cowcumber pickle,... strung and hung from rafters to dry along with onions, corn and herbs for medicine and seasoning, marigolds which are yellow flowers and used to color butter, flavor food and strengthen hearts." The Connecticut Paugaussett indians showed the settlers how to plant and sow corn, called Maize, using companion planting, called "three sisters". This planting method produced a highly balanced and nutritious crop of beans, corn and squash, all from the same mound. They showed them how to tap sugar maple trees in order to boil the sap to produce maple syrup. The English migrated out of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colony into Connecticut which is "one of the richest agricultural areas probably in the world." They no doubtly would have brought their garden layout & practices with them. "To guarantee high yields in such small spaces, the soil was carefully enriched. All wastes - human, animal and vegetable - were carefully hoarded, composted in piles and added to the gardens when ready. Another common practice was one we would today call "over-seeding." For example, onions, which are slow to germinate, were overseeded with lettuce, which is quick to mature. As the lettuce grew, it was removed, allowing space for the onions and providing a double harvest from a single space... Although the colonists greatly appreciated their beauty, blooms were incidental in these first gardens; plants were chosen for their usefulness, not their aesthetic value. If flowers occurred, all the better. (One of the most striking, by the way, is elecampane [inula helenium], a 6-foot stately plant with velvety leaves and lovely, daisy-like flowers.) It wasn't until much later that more prosperous circumstances permitted the luxury of planting solely for beauty's sake." Scroll down this page to find a Schematic Layout of a 1627 Kitchen Garden at Plimoth Plantation & a listing of plants: "Tobacco has been a cash crop in Connecticut since colonial times, whether it was grown shaded under netting or with no cover as in Brookfield."
