Assorted Cucumbers: Green, Orange, White, Yellow, and Lemon Cucumbers

A bin of cucumbers of many different shapes and sizes, showing green, yellow, orange, and white, and a few perfectly round yellow cucumbers

Jul 9th, 2011, by Alex Zorach

This is a bin of assorted cucumbers which were for sale at the Clark Park Farmer's Market in West Philadelphia, at the stand of the Pennypack Farm, which grew these organically in Horsham, PA.

This bin included lemon cucumbers, orange cucumbers, yellow cucumbers, white cucumbers, and the normal, familiar green cucumbers.

But this bin, as diverse as it is, did not contain all the varieties of cucumber available at the market. Nearby, Urban Girls Produce was selling Japanese cucumbers.

The diversity of cucumbers available here contrasts sharply with the one, two, or rarely three varieties of cucumber, always green, available at the supermarket. This diversity is not just aesthetic; each variety of cucumber has its own distinct nutritional value. For example, the orange variety is higher in Vitamin C. The standardization and industrialization of our food supply not only results in more boring produce, but produce that is less nutritionally diverse.