The watery green vegetable is commonly consumed as a salad. Pickle is made by dipping cucumber in a vinegar or brine solution, and it is left there for the natural fermentation process.
Key Takeaways
- Cucumber is a vegetable, while pickle is a food that preserves cucumbers in vinegar.
- Cucumber is eaten raw, while pickles are eaten as a snack or condiment.
- Cucumber has a mild taste and refreshing flavor, while pickles have a tangy, sour taste.
Cucumber vs Pickle
Cucumber is a green vegetable that is eaten raw and in natural form or added to a salad. They are long and thick-skinned and have a watery taste since they contain 95% water. Pickle is a fermented cucumber that is made with added preservatives, with a sour taste, and it looks short with more spines.
Numerous healthy benefits and not too costly are also a boon in buying cucumbers. It also has phytonutrients that have anti-cancer benefits and is anti-inflammatory.
These pickles are made for making cucumbers last for a longer period. They are short, firm, and crisp and do not even contain seeds.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Cucumber | Pickle |
|---|---|---|
| Fermentation Process | Cucumber is a vegetable eaten fresh in the form of salad. There’s no fermentation | Cucumbers when fermented are known as pickles |
| Durability | These are natural and eaten in raw form. They can’t be preserved for long | These have added preservatives to make it last longer |
| Taste | They have a somewhat watery taste | They have a sour taste |
| Size | Long and thick-skinned | These are short with more spines |
| Types | They are consumed naturally and come in the category of slicing cucumbers | Pickles fall in the category of pickling cucumbers |
What is Cucumber?
The green vegetable with the biological name Cucumis sativus comes in the ground vegetables. The Kingdom is Plantae, and it is in the family of Cucurbitaceae.
It is cylindrical but elongated, and the ends are tapered. It is very watery, and there is almost 95% water in cucumbers.
The amount of fat is very little. The energy provided by it is 67 kilo Joule for 16 kilocalories. It has a mild flavour like that of a melon.
Classification of cucumber
- slicing
- Pickled
- Burpless
There are three main groups of cucumber-slicing pickled birthplace. Slicing includes those that are grown and eaten fresh, and for pickling, brine and vinegar, along with spices, create many flavour production where gherkins are also used.
Benefits of cucumber
- Low in calories but rich in minerals and vitamin
- Lowers the blood sugar levels
- Proper regulation of bowel movement
What is Pickle?
Yes, it is that pickle that you might be thinking about, but it is a cucumber pickle if we elaborate on the term pickle here. In Canada and the US, it’s called a pickle, whereas, in Britain, the word pickle is not said.
If we dive into the history of pickled cucumber, some say that it was the workers in China building the Great Wall of China who first discovered pickled cucumber, while some say that it was originally brought from India.
In some countries, just the word pickle is used. The word ‘gherkin‘ is also of Dutch origin, which is derived from the word ‘garden,’ which means cucumber.
The term pickle is a broader term referring to fruit, vegetable, or foods that are preserved in brine or any vinegar mixture. Some of them can be mango, cauliflower, watermelon, olive, onion, etc.
The ingredients that are needed to make pickles are the bulk food item whose pickle is to be made and acetic acid, flavouring, colourants, preservatives, stabilizer, sugar, and salt.
Some of the types of pickle according to the spices and the ingredients used in making the pickle and also according to the types of cucumber used are
- Gherkin
- Kosher dill
- Polish
- Bread and butter
Advantages of pickle
- They are rich in vitamin C
- Anti-inflammatory effects are also found sometimes
- Helps indigestion
- Fights disease
Main Differences Between Cucumber and Pickle
- There’s a higher calorie count in cucumbers as compared to pickles.
- The amount of water content is incredibly high in cucumbers. On the other hand, in pickles, most of the water is dried.
- Juice or smoothie can be made out of cucumber, whereas pickles can be eaten as it is.
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1979.tb09143.x
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1976.tb00739_41_4.x
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