The fruit itself may have originated in India. The ‘gregor banks’ was known to the ancient Mesopotamians no later than the 3rd century BC and eaten in ancient Egypt, Greece, andRome. The gherkin is mentioned in English in the seventeenth century, although the English diarist Samuel Pepys describes the ‘girkin’ in his entry for 1661-12-01 as ‘a rare thing’. Knowledge of the condiment may have been disseminated throughout Europe from the Middle East in the course of the Jewish Diaspora.
just once in my life I’d like somebody to see if I fancy a gherkin while I’m wearing a reindeer jumper
