Moby-Dick, AKA White Arboga

This is a white skinned pickling style heritage cucumber from Sweden that had been written off as lost in the 1950’s.

In Sweden it is known as Arboga Vit, i.e. Arboga White. Arboga is a town in county Västmanland, Sweden. This general area is known for its excellent pickling cucumbers.

The skin is somewhat light lime green when young and becomes white as it matures. The fruits are 10-20 cm long with a somewhat chubby girth. Arboga Vit has a relatively small seed cavity and a crunchy tasty flesh. It has somewhat nutty cucumber flavours when young and notes of melon when more mature.

The firm flesh and its flavours make this an excellent cucumber for pickling that can be eaten fresh as well.

The name Arboga Vit has less meaning in English. Few outside of Sweden know of the excellent cucumber tradition of the region of origin. We have come to call it Moby-Dick as a bit of a joke within our family since the cucumbers are white and somewhat nutty like the whale in the famous book. It will remain named Moby-Dick for us and we imagine this is fine as long as the original name is also used as a reference.

We have really enjoyed growing and using this cucumber. These are seeds from the first succession we have grown and we expect the seeds to adapt even further to the local climate as we grow it again.

Short note on the history 

It is believed this variety was developed by Carl Nilsson who owned a nursery on Västerlånggatan (western long street) in Arboga at the end of the 19th century. It is not known what breeding materials he used or where he got them. However, his white pickling cucumber became very popular due to its good characteristics and it saw a wider use in Sweden and Finland and was sold by several seed companies until it disappeared in the 1950’s.

It was thought to be completely lost until the early 2000’s when seed enthusiasts stumbled upon the variety in the seed bank of Gatersleben in former East Germany. Apparently seed collectors from this seed bank had picked up some of the last seeds sold. Now it is multiplied and sold by seed enthusiasts as a classic heritage variety.