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The word "cucumber" comes from the Latin
name "cucumis." Three hundred years ago,
the English called it "cowcumber." Cucumbers
originated in India between the northern part of the
Bay of Bengal and the Himalayan Mountains. They were
grown in China around the second century, B.C. Emporer
Tiberius of Rome ate cucumbers every day. Columbus
had the cucumber planted in Haiti and other islands
in 1494. French explorers found Indians growing cucumbers
in the area that is now Montreal around 1535. Hernando
De Soto, a Spanish explorer, found cucumbers growing
in what is now Florida around 1540. |