You must have heard these rumors about cucumbers! Have you been deceived again in recent years?

Cucumber is one of the few vegetables that can be eaten raw, and there are many legends and stories about it.

Why is it called “cucumber” if it is obviously green?

Can applying cucumber on your face moisturize and whiten your skin?

Does the flower on the top of the cucumber contain hormones?

Is it better to “milk” cucumbers?

Let us talk about it in detail~

Image from soogif

1. Why is it called cucumber? As a melon-eating person, I have always been curious: Why is a good green vegetable called cucumber?

Cucumbers are native to India.

During the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian was on a diplomatic mission to the Western Regions and discovered countless rare treasures. He saw a cucumber and thought it must be very precious, so he brought it back to the Central Plains.

This melon is not found in the Central Plains, so it is called "Hu melon", because it is a melon grown by the Hu people.

The picture comes from Baotu.com

As for why it was renamed Cucumber, there are two versions:

Version 1

During the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang of Sui increasingly felt that the Hu people were hateful.

Once, the chef made a dish of cold-mixed cucumber. When Emperor Yang of Sui heard the word "Hu" in the name, he was very unhappy and changed the name of the dish to "cold-mixed cucumber".

The picture comes from Qianku.com

Version 2

Shi Le, the emperor of Zhao during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Five Barbarians, was a little self-conscious because he was born into the Jie tribe and was always afraid that others would call him a Hu person.

One day, Emperor Zhao summoned local officials, and Fan Tan, the governor of Xiangcheng County, encountered Hu bandits.

Emperor Zhao was very unhappy when he saw him in such a mess: "General Fan is so poor that he doesn't even have a formal suit? Maybe you think I pay you too little?"

Image from soogif

Fan Tan said casually, it was all the fault of those "barbarian" people, they stole all my clothes.

Emperor Zhao asked him, what did you say, who are you?

Fan Tan was shocked and quickly kowtowed to apologize.

Image from soogif

After the meeting, during the meal, Emperor Zhao pointed to a plate of cucumbers and asked Fan Tan, "Do you know what this is called?"

Fan Tan thought to himself, you are teasing me again.

Then he said: "Golden cup of nectar, jade plate of cucumber, oh no, cucumber."

Emperor Zhao was very satisfied.

So cucumber became known as zucchini and has been popular till now.

The picture comes from Baotu.com

2. Can cucumbers replenish moisture, moisturize and whiten the skin? Although cucumbers are high in water content, making people think that applying cucumbers can replenish moisture to the skin, in fact, this moisture will disappear quickly and has no moisturizing effect at all.

The VC content is not high either, far less than other common fruits, and don’t even think about whitening your skin.

Moreover, there is a layer of dew-like sticky substance on the surface of cucumber, which may cause skin tightness.

▲The animated picture comes from soogif

3. Do cucumbers with yellow flowers on top contain hormones? Not really!

Blooming and bearing fruit, and ripening melons falling off the tree, this is the law of nature.

Cucumbers also need to reproduce, so it is normal for them to bloom, but the flowers usually wither and die after they mature.

In order to increase the number of melons produced, agriculture used plant growth regulators, which were applied to the flowers to preserve the flowers. Later, it was found that they looked pretty good, so it became a routine.

However, plant growth regulators have no effect on the human body, so there is no need to worry too much.

▲The picture comes from Baotu.com

4. Is it better to squeeze cucumber milk? A video of squeezing cucumber milk circulated on the Internet before, showing that cutting the cucumber and rubbing it can produce cream-like white foam, making the cucumber more delicious.

In fact, it's just because they are too bored. Cucumbers contain a bitter substance called cucurbitacin, which is mainly concentrated under the skin and in the melon stem. Friction will cause some cucurbitacin to be secreted.

But there is no noticeable difference in taste. Just peel the skin and chop off the head.

In fact, there are many rumors about not only cucumbers, but also various fruits and vegetables. What other rumors have you heard? Please leave a message to tell us~

References:

1.https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BB%84%E7%93%9C

2. Plants Traveling on the Silk Road

3. Wang Wujun. Cucumber in history[J]. Community, 2012, 000(026):12-12.