You bite into a garden cucumber expecting something cool and clean, and instead get a mouthful of something resembling unsweetened medicine. It’s jarring, and it happens more than most gardeners ...

Lauki juice, a popular morning drink, can become poisonous if it tastes bitter. This bitterness indicates toxic cucurbitacin ...

Zucchini, a popular summer vegetable, can sometimes turn toxic due to bitter compounds called cucurbitacins. While cultivated zucchini is generally safe, cross-pollination, environmental stress, or ...

A new study has found that compounds responsible for the bitter taste in cucumbers (cucurbitacins) may be able to treat cancer and diabetes. The fruit and leaves of wild cucurbits have been used in ...

For those who hate eating their vegetables, it’s easy to imagine that they’re actually toxic plants masquerading as food. But, as Ars has reported before, many of the common vegetables, fruits, spices ...