West Indian Burr Gherkin

Burr Gherkin (Cucumis anguria) is a close relative of cucumber (Cucumis sativus). Unlike cucumbers, Burr Gherkin is easy to grow in a Florida home garden setting without spraying. In our experience, cucumbers are plagued by many problems, with perhaps the most devastating being pickle worm holes in most fruits. At Cody Cove Farm, burr gherkin is virtually pest free and very rampant until the end of the season when some pests, such as as stink bugs, do catch on to the game. This vegetable stands as an example of the great multitudes of totally underexploited crops that should be grown in Florida.

Burr gherkins can be eaten young just like cucumbers. The quality is slightly lower than a good cucumber, but we still rank them as being quite similar. Fruits are covered in soft spines/hairs that can be quickly rubbed off by hand under running water. Pickles can be made which, apparently, Thomas Jefferson was quite fond of growing them for. In some parts of the world, this is a cooked vegetable. Variants of burr gherkin known as “Maxixe” are an important cooked vegetable in Brazil. In our opinion, this is a fantastic and versatile cooked vegetable that easily fills the role of a summer squash type vegetable in food.

This cucumber relative is an important indigenous African crop that is mostly overlooked by gardeners. It is a much more rugged, tropical climate adapted species than typical cucumbers which lends itself well to the challenging conditions of Florida. The thin, wispy vines prefer to sprawl all over the ground vs climbing, though we were able to train them up a trellis with some special effort. Thus far we have had the best success growing this crop in the shoulder seasons of Spring and Fall, though it may be possible to have some success even in the worst of the summer heat.

We started with two varieties of Burr Gherkin and found this variety to be more pest resistant and much better quality fruit for cooking, while the other was more pest susceptible and more of a fresh cucumber variety. If you are looking exclusively for a fresh cucumber crop, check out Zambian Cucumber on our website. This close relative of burr gherkin is very obscure but has higher quality fresh cucumbers than either Cucumis anguria we tasted.

Cucumis anguria

Listing is for 20 seeds.