Natural form

Whole English cucumber: long, uniformly cylindrical, with smooth dark green skin.

Establishes the primary visual identity — size, shape, color, and skin texture of an uncut cucumber.

Produce

Cucumber

Cool, crisp, and watery — for salads, pickles, and tzatziki

Refreshing and crunchy, cucumber lightens a salad, cools a yogurt sauce, or pickles in a flash. Keep it chilled and use within a week before it softens.

The cucumber is cool, crisp, and mostly water — a refreshing crunch that lightens salads, cools spicy food, and pickles in a flash. Mild and clean-tasting, it's at its best raw and cold, sliced into salads, smashed for Asian dishes, blended into chilled soups, or folded into yogurt for tzatziki and raita. Pick the right type, salt out excess water when needed, and it's one of the most refreshing things on the table.

Measured in: piece
Storage: Refrigerate
Shelf life: 7 days

Find it in

Produce

Types & varieties

English (hothouse)

Long, thin-skinned, near-seedless; sold wrapped

Persian

Small, crisp, thin-skinned, mild; great whole

Slicing (American)

Thicker waxed skin, more seeds; peel if waxed

Pepino corto / español

Short, ridged Spanish cucumber — the everyday salad and gazpacho one (pepino largo/holandés is the long smooth type)

How to choose

Want cucumbers that are firm and unwrinkled from end to end, with a deep, even green color and no soft spots, yellowing, or shriveling. Slimmer cucumbers tend to have fewer seeds and crisper flesh. A waxy coating on slicing cucumbers is normal — it's there to extend shelf life, but it's worth peeling.

How to store

Cucumbers are sensitive to cold and to ethylene. Keep them in the warmest part of the fridge (front of the crisper), wrapped to slow moisture loss, and away from ethylene producers like tomatoes, bananas, and melons, which speed their spoilage. Use within about a week before they soften.

How to prep and manage the water

Peel waxed cucumbers; leave thin-skinned types unpeeled. For dishes where wateriness would dilute (tzatziki, sandwiches, certain salads), scoop out the seedy core and/or salt the slices and let them drain to draw out moisture, then pat dry. Smashing cucumbers (rather than slicing) creates craggy surfaces that grab dressing — a trick from Chinese cooking.

Salt and drain to remove excess water
Scoop the watery seeds for sauces
Smash, don't slice, to grip dressing

Common uses

Greek and garden saladsTzatziki and raitaQuick picklesSmashed cucumber saladCucumber sandwichesGazpachoCucumber water and cocktailsCrudités

Tips & pitfalls

Salt and drain slices before adding to creamy salads to avoid sogginess
Smash Persian or English cucumbers for a craggy, dressing-loving salad
Keep them out of the coldest fridge zone — they chill-injure easily
Quick-pickle in seasoned vinegar for instant crunch and tang
Blend into chilled soups (gazpacho) for summer refreshment

Nutrition

15kcal

Energy

63 kJ · per 100 g

Where the calories come from

Protein 14%Carbs 80%Fat 5%

Protein

0.7g

1% DV

Carbs

3.6g

1% DV

Fat

0.1g

0% DV

Fiber

0.5g

2% DV

Sugars

1.7g

of which

Sodium

2mg

0% DV

Notable micronutrients

Vitamin K14% DV

Vitamin C3% DV

Riboflavin (B2)3% DV

Magnesium3% DV

Potassium3% DV

Thiamin (B1)2% DV

Source · USDA FoodData Central · Cucumber, with peel, raw

View on FDC →

In the shops

Matched grocery products

Cucumber
210 g · Mercadona
€0.40
Dutch Cucumber
425 g · Mercadona
€1.13
Cucumber 1 unit
Bonpreu
€0.59
Cucumber 1 unit
ud · Bonpreu
€0.66
La Collita Organic Cucumber Tray 600 g
LA COLLITA · kg · Bonpreu
€3.39

Good to know

Peak season: Summer (peak); available year-round
Flavor: Cool, crisp, mild, fresh; mostly water
Origin: India; cultivated for over 3,000 years
Nutrition: ~15 kcal/100g; ~95% water; vitamin K, hydrating
How to buy: Firm all over, deep green, no soft spots, wrinkles, or yellowing

Substitutes