West India Gherkin

(Cucumis anguria); aka Jamaican Burr, Prickly-fruited Gherkin; a Michigan Connection variety; Minimum 25 seeds

Discussed in Fearing Burr's 1865 The field and garden vegetables of America, this quirky cucurbit noted for its surface "thickly set with spiny nipples" is perfect for pickling and stir fry. It also is satisfying raw like its traditional cucumber cousins - pleasingly crunchy with a mild tang. Fruits are best used young and small before it gets seedy, when the skin is tender and easily pierced with your nail.

Grown like traditional cucumbers, these prickly pickles-to-be are productive until first frost in our southeast Michigan gardens.

In its 1943 "Plant a Garden - Food will win the war" issue Burgess Seed and Plant Co. of Galesburg, Michigan includes West India Gherkin.