Bitter Tasting Zucchinis, Cucumbers And Melons Can Cause Food ...

Members of the squash family such as zucchinis, cucumbers and melons can cause food poisoning if they taste bitter. Photo credit: Jeremy Keith // CCBY

Members of the squash family such as zucchinis, cucumbers and melons are popular foods used in a variety of dishes and salads. Once in a while you may come across some that have a particular bitter or metallic taste. The bitterness  is caused by a group of compounds called cucurbitacins which are produced naturally by the plant. The higher the level of cucurbitacin, the more bitter the zucchini, cucumber or melon will taste. In addition to their bitter taste, these compounds are toxic and can causing food poisoning including nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. Symptoms have been reported within 1 to 2 hours after ingestion of as little as 3 g zucchini, so do not hesitate to put table manners aside and spit out bitter tasting food.

Wild varieties of these fruits usually have high amounts of the toxin and taste very bitter whereas cultivated forms, i.e. the ones sold in grocery stores or grow in our gardens, have been selected to not produce the toxins. Once in a while, these otherwise toxin-free plants back-mutate and regain their natural ability to produce toxic levels of cucurbitacins.

Use Your Taste Buds A toxic zucchini, cucumber or melon looks exactly the same as a non-toxic one, so just looking at the fruit will not tell you whether it is bitter or not. There is only one method to determine whether your food can make you sick. Taste it.

Cut off a small piece of your zucchini and lick it. Cucurbitacins are very bitter, so it does not take more than that to determine if it is okay or should be thrown directly in the trash can.

References:

Gry et al. 2006. Cucurbitacins in plant food. TemaNord:556. Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen. ISBN 92-893-1381-1

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© AScientificCuriosity

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