Cucumbers

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• Cucumbers

Tulare County Office of Education
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Reasons to Eat Cucumbers

• A ½ cup of cucumbers provides
• A good source of vitamin K
• A source of water, a vital nutrient
• for the body.
• ½ cup is the size of a light bulb
  or one cupped handful

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H2O

• Water is an essential nutrient for all life
  forms.

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H2O

• Approximately 60-65 of the human body is made up
  of water.

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H2O

• Every cell, tissue, and organ and nearly every
  bodily function needs water to operate.

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H2O

• You can meet your daily water requirements from
  foods like fruits and vegetables, as well as
  plain water and other beverages.

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How Do Cucumbers Grow?

• Plants need flowers to produce fruit.
• Female flowers have parts called a pistil.
• Male flowers have parts called a stamen.
• Stamens produce pollen and the pistil contains
  the seeds.

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How Do Cucumbers Grow?

• The cucumber plant can have both
• male and female flower parts.
• This is called a mon-o-e-cious plant.

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How Do Cucumbers Grow?

• Outdoor cucumbers are monoecious.
• When the female flower is pollinated, the
  cucumbers will have seeds.

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How Do Cucumbers Grow?
Cucumbers grown inside greenhouses are usually
par-then-o-car-pic. This means the plants only
have female flowers and do not need pollination.
These cucumbers will have no seeds.
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What is Pollination?
When insects like bees visit flowers, the pollen
inside the flower sticks to their hairy legs.
When they visit another flower the pollen rubs
off on the flowers stigma. This is called
pollination. After pollination, fruit develops.
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A Slice of Cucumber History

• Cucumbers were first known to have been grown in
  India 3,000 years ago.

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A Slice of Cucumber History

• Columbus transported cucumbers to North America
  from Spain in
• the early 16th century.

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A Slice of Cucumber History

• European trappers, hunters, and explorers traded
  cucumbers for squash, pumpkins, and gourds with
  native tribes of the Great Plains and Rocky
  Mountains.

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Is it a Pickle or a Cucumber?

• The cucumber species is divided into two
  categories slicing and pickling.
• Slicing cucumbers are usually served raw in
  salads, sandwiches, and snacks.

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Is it a Pickle or a Cucumber?

• Pickling cucumbers are developed specifically for
  the pickling process.
• They are generally smaller than slicing cucumbers
  with a thick, bumpy skin.

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Just the Facts

• There are over 800 species in the Cucurbitaceae
  family and they include cucumbers, gourds,
  melons, pumpkins, and squashes.
• The inside of a cucumber can be up to 20 degrees
  cooler than the exterior.

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Get Your Brain On

• Fruits and vegetables are a source of water.
• True
• How much of the human body is made up of water?
• 60-65
• Plants need ______ and bees to produce fruit.
• Flowers
• Cucumbers grown in a greenhouse will have no
  _____.
• Seeds
• What are the two types of cucumbers?
• Slicing and pickling

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Tasting TrioCool Cucumber Cuties
 
Ingredients 2 whole cucumbers 2 sleeves
whole-wheat crackers 1 oz. lemon-pepper
seasoning
Preparation Wash each cucumber and slice into 36 coins. Build your Cucumber Cuties by stacking a cucumber coin on top of one cracker. Sprinkle the seasoning on top of the cucumbers.

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Cucumber Cuties

• HOW I FELT ABOUT THIS RECIPE
• Loved it It was okay Didnt
  like it

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• I sure like cucumbers!

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