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Friday, October 8, 2021

The Muncher Cucumber

Other than a few of my bushy Carosello varieties, I have yet to grow any cucumber vines that I would consider to be “bushy”. However, the Beit Alpha variety Muncher seems to be as close to bushy as any regular Cucumis Sativus cucumber variety that I have grown. Muncher is a very thin-skinned cucumber with female flowers that begin to form soon after the male flowers appear.

 

 






The taste of these is generally bitter-free and the taste is not offensive. This is considered a compliment to the variety given that I do not care for the Beit Alpha class generally speaking.




 

Though some people may love Lebanese cucumber varieties, I would dare anyone to even attempt to have a blind taste competition between any Beit Alpha cucumber compared to something like a Meloncella Fasciata (Striped Carosello Leccese) or a Tondo Barese.





In any case, if you are looking for a fast-maturing, smooth thin-skinned cucumber variety with decent texture and tolerable taste, this is definitely the one for you.

 



2 comments:

  1. Hi Jay. Beit Alpha is a great variety. It is very different cucumber to other types and has a niche audience. I had some really nice Beit Alpha at the University of Arizona greenhouses. It was quite sweet but lacked cucumber flavor and has soft texture. It is more suited to greenhouse production due to its thin skin and small, irregular size.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed. They have good texture and can be a bit sweet, but I find the flavor to be more like eating grass than anything else.

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