It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Cucumis anguria. (Discuss)

Gherkin (French cornichon) is a young cucumber (Cucumis sativus), picked when 1 to 3 inches (3 to 8 cm) in length and pickled in jars or cans with vinegar (often flavoured with herbs, particularly dill; hence, ‘dill pickle’) or brine. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Binomial name Cucumis anguria L. Cucumis anguria, also called the West Indian gherkin, burr cucumber, or cohombro, is a vine grown for its fruit used as a vegetable, similar and related to the cucumber. ... Looking south down Bishopsgate, one of the main roads leading through Londons financial district. ... Binomial name Cucumis sativus L. The cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. ... A centimetre (American spelling centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of length that is equal to one hundredth of a metre, the current SI base unit of length. ... Cucumbers gathered for pickling. ... Vinegar is sometimes infused with spices or herbs—as here, with oregano. ... Binomial name Anethum graveolens L. Dried Dill-umbel Dill (Anethum graveolens) is a short-lived annual herb, native to southwest and central Asia. ... Brine is water saturated or nearly saturated with salt. ...

The term can also be used to refer to the West Indian Burr Gherkin (Cucumis anguria), a related plant species, originally West African, that was introduced to the West Indies, probably by the Portuguese. This ‘true’ or Burr Gherkin or badunga cannot interbreed with the ‘true’ cucumber (Cucumis sativus), which is the condiment vegetable now generally known as the gherkin or dill pickle. The West Indian Burr Gherkin is edible and may be pickled but must be picked when no longer than 1.5 inches (4 cm) long, since it becomes bitter and spiny if allowed to grow larger. The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... ... Salt, sugar and pepper are the most essential condiments in Western cuisine. ... A plate of vegetables Vegetable is a culinary term which generally refers to an edible part of a plant. ... Bitter can refer to: Look up bitter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A Spiny is a small, mainly red, spike-backed creature found in many of Nintendos Mario games. ...

Etymology

The origin of the word may be Slavic or Greek, but it is likely to have entered the English language from early modern Dutch, in which the diminutive gurkkijn or agurkkijn denotes a small cucumber. (The word ‘pickle’ itself is derived from the Dutch pikel, a salt or acid preserving fluid.) The similarly pronounced Swedish word "gurka", actually means cucumber, cognate with German "Gurke".  Countries where a West Slavic language is the national language  Countries where an East Slavic language is the national language  Countries where a South Slavic language is the national language The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Acidity redirects here. ... Swedish ( ), known since Esaias Tegnér as the language of glory and heroes (ärans och hjältarnas sprÃ¥k), is a North Germanic language (also called Scandinavian languages) spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Ã…land islands, by more than nine...

The fruit itself may have originated in India, but the ‘pickled gherkin’ was known, although not by that name, to the ancient Mesopotamians no later than the 3rd century BC and enjoyed in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The gherkin is mentioned in English in the seventeenth century, although the English diarist Samuel Pepys describes the ‘girkin’ in his entry for 1661-12-01 as ‘a rare thing’. Knowledge of the condiment may have been disseminated throughout Europe from the Middle East in the course of the Jewish Diaspora. Mesopotamia refers to the region now occupied by modern Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and Southwest Iran. ... Dionysius Exiguus invented Anno Domini years to date Easter. ... Nickname: Motto: SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Government  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area  - City 1,285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban 5... Samuel Pepys, FRS (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. ... 1661 (MDCLXI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... The term: diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – a scattering or sowing of seeds) is used (without capitalization) to refer to any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands; being dispersed throughout other parts of the world, and the ensuing developments in their dispersal and culture. ...

The gherkin may have been introduced to the American public by one Minton Collins of Richmond, Virginia, who was offering it for sale in the Virginia Gazette in 1792, although it might have been known in Colonial times under another name. It was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson. Pickling of gherkins was at first a domestic activity, but the jar of pickles became a commercial product in France as early as the 1820s. The condiment rapidly became generally popular, although always more so in the USA than among the British, for whom the generic ‘pickle’ remained the small, sweet onion. Nickname: Motto: Sic Itur Ad Astra (Thus do we reach the stars) Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia Coordinates: Country United States State Virginia County Independent City Government  - Mayor L. Douglas Wilder (I) Area  - City 62. ... The Virginia Gazette (also called simply Virginia Gazette) is the local newspaper of the City of Williamsburg and James City County, Virginia. ... Thomas Jefferson (13 April 1743 N.S.–4 July 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–09), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States. ... Cucumbers gathered for pickling. ... Jar can mean: Containers: Antique fruit jar Canopic jar, used in ancient Egyptian burial Leyden jar, a simple capacitor Killing jar [municipality in Zaqatalskiy region of Azerbaijan] JAR (file format) is a file format used to package Java programming language applications Jar, Norway, a centre in the municipality of B... Binomial name Allium cepa L. Many plants in the genus Allium are known by the common name onion but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa. ...

Trivia

• Gherkins featured heavily in the BBC television series Stoppit and Tidyup.

• Running an electrical current through a gherkin will cause it to glow like a fluorescent light. Electrocution of a Gherkin & As shown on B3ta.com

• "Jerkin' the gherkin" is a euphemism for masturbation.

• The Swiss Re building at 30 St. Mary Axe in London is also commonly referred to as "The Gherkin" due to its elongated, tapering cylindrical shape.

• A (formerly) common British slang term for a gherkin is a Wally, supposedly originally a 19th-century corruption of "olive" and later applied to other pickles.

The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Stoppit and Tidyup was a BBC television series released in 1988, created by Charlie Mills and Terry Brain, the duo behind CMTB Animation who had previously created a claymation called The Trap Door. ... A compact fluorescent lamp A fluorescent lamp is a type of electric lamp that excites argon and mercury vapor to create luminescence. ... 30 St Mary Axe - at 180 m, Swiss Res London headquarters is the 6th tallest building in London Swiss Re is the worlds second-largest reinsurance company (after Munich Re/ Münchener Rück), and the worlds largest life and health reinsurer. ... Looking south down Bishopsgate, one of the main roads leading through Londons financial district. ... Wally is a character in the Pokemon video game series. ...

See also

• Pickled cucumber

A deli pickle. ...

References

• Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition, 1989)

The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is generally regarded as the most comprehensive and scholarly dictionary of the English language. ...

External links

• BBC Food & Drink article on pickling
• American history of the pickle, documented in the Virginia Gazette