If you’re tired of growing or eating the same old green cucumbers, you’ll be pleased to hear that there is actually an alternative – albino cucumbers.

As their name suggests, these heirloom cucumbers are a bright white, even though the stalks they grow on have a common dark green foliage. Albino cucumbers don’t simply occur as an anomaly, although that may have been the case with the first such specimen. They are actually a slowly developed variety of cucumber that dates back to the 1893, when the Burpee seed company featured it in its famous catalog for the first time. It had been sent in by a customer in 1890, and Burpee spent the next three years breeding and evaluating the plant before launching it commercially.

Over the last century, albino cucumbers have become known under many names, including “White Wonder”, “Ivory King,” “Jack Frost,” “Landreths White Slicing” and “White Albino.”

According to Reimer Seeds, albino cucumbers are “exceptionally crisp and very delicious without the bitter taste. Great for salads, pickles, or gourmet dishes. It looks great in salads to adds extra color to gourmet dishes. The tender white skins are so thin that they won’t even need peeling. Great for making chips, spears, and whole pickles.”

Although not as common as their green cousins, white cucumbers are not exactly considered rare. Seeds are widely available online, it’s just that most people don’t even know they exist.

 

This isn’t the first strange-looking produce we’ve ever featured on Oddity Central. You probably didn’t know a pink variety of pineapple existed either? How about these black Dark Diamond Apples?