My mom used to "burp" cucumbers, cutting off the end of the cucumber and rubbing the cut sides together before eating it. Being a curious and skeptical person, I asked her why. She said that her Grannie used to do it because it took the bitterness out of cucumbers. I didn't understand how it could do that, so I designed an experiment.
Hypothesis: "Burping" cucumbers makes them less bitter.
The process of "burping" also produces a sea foam-like substance; I thought that if it takes the bitterness out of the cucumber, then that foam should contain all the bitterness of the cucumber.
To test this, we took two cucumbers and only "burped" one of them. I tasted the cucumber foam, finding that it did not, in fact, taste bitter. It just tasted like cucumber. My mom found this gross for some reason, and refused to taste it herself. Next we cut up the two cucumbers and all four of us tasted each cucumber. Both cucumbers tasted about the same to all of us, so we concluded that "burping" does not take bitterness out of cucumbers, and so is completely unnecessary. Some cucumbers will taste bitter even if "burped".
My mom no longer "burps" cucumbers before she eats them, saving her about a minute and a bit of energy for each one. Using skepticism will improve your life.
By Skeptic Chick
