Photo: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Cucumber
Cucumis sativus
Also known as Garden Cucumber, Kheera, Khira, Cuke
Key benefits
✦Traditional uses
✦Cucumber has been cultivated for over three thousand years, tracing back to the foothills of the Himalayas in what is now India, and from there it traveled the ancient trade routes into Greece, Rome, and beyond. Long before refrigeration, its high water content made it a prized way to stay cool and hydrated through hot seasons, and cooks across many cultures folded it into yogurt, vinegar, and brine to keep meals light in the summer heat. Traditional Ayurvedic practice regarded cucumber as a cooling food, used to calm heat and irritation in the body. Its cooling reputation carried over into folk beauty rituals too, where sliced cucumber has been laid over the eyes and skin for generations to soothe puffiness and refresh a tired face.
How to grow & use it
✦The full apothecary for Cucumber
Traditional remedies and step-by-step preparations, a complete growing guide, and how to harvest, dry, and store it, all unlocked with HerbLens Unlimited.
- ✦Remedies & preparations
- ✦ Growing guide
- ✦Harvest & storage
From under $6 a month. Free plant identifications always included.
- ✦Mint
- ✦Dill
- ✦Aloe Vera
- ✦Zucchini
- ✦Celery
“You want something cool, quiet, and green to bring the garden's shade indoors.”
Cucumbers are technically fruits, not vegetables, since they develop from a flower and carry seeds, which botanically places them alongside melons and squash rather than leafy greens.
Cucumber is a safe, common food, though the peel occasionally has a bitter compound that can upset the stomach, so trim any bitter-tasting cucumber. Those allergic to melons or other gourds should be cautious of cross-reactivity.