An NCBI search did not reveal any known cases of curcurbitacin poisoning through excess consumption of normal domestic curcurbits. All cases and indeed all literature I could find were identified as caused by: consumption of wild curcurbits, inedible domestic curcurbits (gourds etc.), domestic crosses with wild curcurbits, or excessively bitter domestic curcurbits damaged as a result of environmental conditions while growing. Curcurbitacin has a pronounced taste. In your position, I wouldn't worry unless you start to show symptoms, which seems unlikely.

Interestingly, the same NCBI search shows that curcurbitacin is being investigated in numerous studies for anti-cancer properties.

Look harder.

https://www.livescience.com/62158-toxic-squash-syndrome-hair-loss.html

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15563650.2018.1424891

These were mostly about store-purchased cucurbits.

But yes, as long as they aren't bitter, I think they are safe to eat in large quantities. It is interesting that curcurbitacin as an anti-cancer drug causes hair loss as to other anti-cancer drugs.

Dan, I did find those two articles; but if I am reading them correctly, then each case involved the consumption of a normal serving amount of bitter tasting curcurbit (from one of the four categories I noted), not excess consumption of non-bitter domestic curcurbits. That was my point - that the taste is a dead giveaway to excess curcurbitacin. Sorry if it went awry. As always I bow to your experience. :-)

"So how much is too much? "

In my book, one would be too much :-) But then I do not care much for cukes at all, except pickled ones and even those I tolerate in very small amounts. Eating enough of them to cause poisoning is beyond my comprehension!!

Scoop out the seeds and seed cavity. For my stomach, that's the part that causes all the trouble.

That's interesting about scooping seeds. The curcurbitacin is allegedly concentrated near the skin, and toward the stem end. So scooping seeds wouldn't do much to avoid it. But with regard to digestive issues, it may be more than the curcurbitacin.

lilyd74, by my reading, the JCT paper said about 56 percent of the cases were with squash purchased at a store, and in 26 percent of the cases, the vegetable came from a home garden, according to the findings. I interpret that as domestic cucurbits. But yes, taste must be a dead giveaway, and that's how you protect yourself. Kind of funny that people ate a lot of bitter squash.

Linda, I don't have handy dogs. But I have a few handy cats. Maybe if I added some fish flavor they would gobble some cukes?

Seems like they have bred the curcurbitacin out of them over time, thou you can try to see if find out how many Armenians you need to eat to achieve massive hair loss, for science. I've got a Suyo Long about ready to pick, never had one before. I'll try not to think about curcurbitacin poisoning, but now you have put the idea into my head.

I understand that domestic regular cukes, if stressed when growing, can be bitter. Lack of water or temps that are too cold or too hot can do it. Loads of gardening info available about this. As I said, my Armenians are never bitter though, so I will assume that eating one or two a day isn't going to hurt me (and they're big!) The point is, if you have bitter cukes, don't eat a lot of them.

I believe that Suyo Long, like Armenians, do not have much curcurbitacin and never get bitter. That they are also burpless is consistent with that.

I studied cucurbitacins as a feeding stimulant for cucumber beetles. Most of the cucurbitacin compounds are found just under the skin, and non-bitter cucumbers have very little to begin with. Armenian cukes are a subspecies of C. melo, so they may lack cucurbitacins altogether.

bcomplx. Please tell me that cucumber beetles don't like Armenian cukes! They decimated my cukes last season and I'm growing them under Reemay this year, but would love to go back to growing cukes on poles.

Pretty sure that cucubitacins are found in cucumis melo. Not all varieties, but some. Chinese medicine uses cucurbitacin B and E for jaundice, as extracted from bitter melons.

Dan you are right, and many cucurbit species are loaded with cucurbitacins. With Armenians that are eaten unpeeled and easily digested, you have the dead evidence of their low cuc content.

Labradors, Armenians are on the non-preferred list for cucumber beetles, as are all non-bitter (burpless) varieties. That said, in my area (SW Virginia), there has been a huge drop in cucumber beetle populations. With three cucumber plantings in the ground I have not seen ONE, and in gardens where they are present there have been few sighted compared to previous years. In terms of insect decline, this is comforting and alarming at the same time since I live in an area where neither pesticides or habitat destruction are factors.

bcomplx, thanks! Wouldn't you know it. They had a bumper year here last year and could possibly be in decline the year I decided to grow (in a different garden) under Reemay. I will never know, but I might just try growing an Armenian cuke up a pole next season :).

I ate lots of Armenian cucumbers (mostly more mature ones, as in larger; they were Metki Dark Green Serpent) one year, and felt healthier for it. I ate some unripe muskmelons and watermelons another year, and I eventually felt nauseous, after about seven of them. I didn't want to eat more, after that. I think your body will probably warn you before it's too late, but probably is the key word. Pay attention to anything that seems iffy.

I personally think the larger Armenian cucumbers are going to be healthier than the small ones (plus they're juicier and less like zucchini with regard to taste and texture).

Why larger means healthier?? Far as I can tell, the larger Armenians are identical to the smaller ones, except seedier. You run a spoon down the middle, and the seeds are gone. Neither have the bitterness that is a sign of cucubitacins.

Neither are Armenians like zucchini with regard to taste and texture. I've seen that stated elsewhere, and it just ain't true. I've been growing Armenians for three years, and eating oodles of them - big ones and tiny ones. They are all like regular cukes inside. Taste the same. Juicy with some crispness. These last few weeks we've been having a bumper crop, and for a while I was eating one a day. (I'd rather not just throw them in the compost!)

@daninthedirt Your experience with them sounds different than mine. It may be soil, water or climate differences, or the variety that makes the difference. The smaller ones that I've tried definitely had a drier, foamier, more zucchini-like, more tender texture to me. (Keep in mind I've only tasted Metki Dark Green Serpent, though. I have grown Armenian Yard Long, however, but I didn't taste it, due to a crop failure; they did look a *lot* different, however.) Beit Alpha cucumbers are a kind of regular cucumber that have a similar texture as the small Armenian cucumbers I've tried. The big Armenian cucumbers I've tried are more like the big, super fat, juicy, seedy, regular cucumbers people often grow (the Armenian cucumbers get that way before they get too seedy to eat the seeds, for me, though). The big ones (think like almost a yard long, or somewhat shorter than that, and three to four inches wide) quench the feeling of thirst for me, and are very refreshing, while the small ones don't, and aren't.

Anyway, all in all, our differences may just be opinions.

My view about the big ones being healthier is an opinion based on some factors. 1. They just feel healthier to me (it's kind of like eating an unripe apple vs. a ripe apple; they're both good, but I prefer the ripe ones, and they hit the spot more). I feel the same way about zucchini. I think they should be at least a certain size before I eat them, otherwise they just taste too unripe, even if they aren't sour. The reason why is a lot more obvious with Chilacoyote than zucchini, though. Unripe raw squash produce a substance that sticks to and coats the teeth, but unripe chilacoyote can contain lots of it (although the unripe ones do taste really good). I think that substance doesn't agree with me, whatever it is (and I don't know what it is). I like the taste of more mature things, too. They taste real. Now, Armenian cucumbers and other muskmelons and watermelons don't seem to produce that substance that squash do, but muskmelons and watermelons can produce a substance that tastes sweet when unripe, and this doesn't agree with me. I don't know what it is. There's a similar substance in some kinds of unripe, but nearly ripe, tomatoes that makes them taste peachy to me (although I don't mind it in small quantities). I don't know that there's much if any of the substance I've tasted in other unripe muskmelons in Armenian types, but I'm theorizing that it might be the reason for my preference (other than the juiciness, firmer texture, and such).

So, yeah, I doubt it's cucurbitacins that I'm talking about, since they're bitter (and I believe I have tasted them before), and the things I mention are sweet, if anything.

Given that I've heard some other people compare Armenians to zucchini, you're right that it may be a soil, water, or climate issue. But mine are entirely cucumber-like. So, it just ain't true for ME.

I don't understand your argument about the big ones being healthier, but it seems that there are some aspects about produce that just don't appeal to you. Not sure how that makes them less healthy. I just grow Armenian yard long, and I've eaten them anywhere from six inches long to a foot and a half. No difference in taste or texture except, as I said, the big ones are kinda seedy. After the seeds are scraped out, they are delicious.

Yeah, I'm not saying yours weren't juicy.

I didn't mean produce generally (just the specific species, although the same may or may not hold true in other cases). It's not that those aspects of those species are unappealing, necessary, so much as they're much less appealing, and I wouldn't want to eat them in large quantities, while it feels much healthier to me to eat the more mature ones in large quantities. Sorry for being nitpicky about semantics. You probably knew what I meant.