The last thing I want to buy is burpless cucumbers. I mean, just seeing the words "burpless" grosses me out. I'd rather burp for a whole week than buy cucumbers that declare "hey, we make you burp less". Really now, what's the point? If cucumbers make you burp then maybe you should accept that you are going to burp everytime you eat them, or maybe you shouldn't eat them. What's the matter with burping anyways, I mean, besides the actual word? Picture this scenario: In China, if you don't burp after your meal it's considered rude. One time, an american business man was closing on a lucrative deal with a Chinese company. He had brought some burpless cucumbers with him from America. He decided to eat one at lunch before his big meeting slash dinner with his soon to be Chinese partners. The time for the dinner came and fun was had by all. At the end of the meal, however, the american businessman could not seem to adequately respect the dinner host for the lovely dinner. He was, in effect, burpless. Now remember ladies and gents, buy regular cucumbers for when the time comes to burp you just may get millions.
Ridiculous and tedious proverbs aside, what are burpless cucumbers anyways? Do they really exist? Is there something genetically manipulated in the cucumber that makes it burp free?
Professor Todd C. Wehner, from NC State University, conducted a study to find out if there really is such thing as a burpless cucumber. "Wehner specialises in the study of cucurbits - the plant family of cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe and certain gourds. He is an acknowledged expert on watermelon DNA [and] on sex expression in luffa gourds..." (Fantastic, Amazing!)
"'It has been suggested by researchers that burpless cucumbers contain less of a burping compound ... or are just the marketing term for oriental trellis cucumbers,' he writes. 'The objective of this experiment is to determine whether oriental trellis cucumbers cause less burping when eaten.'"
"Wehner fed three kinds of cucumber to six judges. 'Judges were grouped into susceptible or resistant, based on their previous experience with cucumbers. Fruits were evaluated for burpiness using six judges eating a 100-millimetre length of fruit a day. Burpiness was measured on a 0 to 9 scale ... Ratings of burpiness were made within a hour of eating.' The trials lasted three days."
"Upon sifting through his data, Wehner discovered that the judges who were susceptible to burping burped slightly less after eating the burpless cucumbers."
"'It has been suggested by researchers that burpless cucumbers contain less of a burping compound ... or are just the marketing term for oriental trellis cucumbers,' he writes. 'The objective of this experiment is to determine whether oriental trellis cucumbers cause less burping when eaten.'"
"Wehner fed three kinds of cucumber to six judges. 'Judges were grouped into susceptible or resistant, based on their previous experience with cucumbers. Fruits were evaluated for burpiness using six judges eating a 100-millimetre length of fruit a day. Burpiness was measured on a 0 to 9 scale ... Ratings of burpiness were made within a hour of eating.' The trials lasted three days."
"Upon sifting through his data, Wehner discovered that the judges who were susceptible to burping burped slightly less after eating the burpless cucumbers."
The article never tells whether or not the so called burpless cucumbers were really the oriental trellis cucumbers. In addition, the article states that there is still research to be done to find out if there really is something of a burping component in regular burpy cucumbers. Peace.
This excerpt was taken from the article, "Is there such a thing as a burpless cucumber?," by Marc Abrahams from The Guardian (October 18, 2005)
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