How to grow, store and eat cucumbers

A really efficient way to describe a human’s personality is by comparing them to a specific fruit.

If someone’s silly, they’re a banana. If someone’s sweet, they’re a cherry. But perhaps the highest honour is being compared to a cucumber: cool and refreshing.

While cucumbers are available year-round in Australia, they’re at their peak between November and March.

Known for their cooling effect, they can be eaten raw, cooked and pickled.

We spoke to Oliver Shorthouse, a farmer based in the Dandenong Ranges, and Cle-Ann Stampolidis, a recipe developer and food stylist, about how to best embrace this versatile fruit.

Two main varieties for salads and pickling

Cucumbers are largely divided into two groups: slicing and pickling cucumbers.

Slicing cucumbers, including the continental or Lebanese cucumber, have smooth skin, grow longer and are popular to eat raw.

Pickling cucumbers, such as the Boston pickling cucumber, are shorter, firmer and have spines on their skin. These varieties are great for preserving.

There’s also a third category known as burpless (or seedless) cucumbers. This family of cucumbers has reduced levels of cucurbitacin, meaning the fruit is less bitter and reportedly reduces the chance of cucumber-induced burping.

“We grow lots of continental and Lebanese cucumbers but also grow some lesser-known varieties, too, like the Richmond Green Apple, which has a really mild, sweet cucumber flavour,” says Victorian grower Oliver Shorthouse.

“When we used to do markets, we’d get 85 and 90 years old come along and say they haven’t seen the Richmond Green Apple since they were a kid, apparently, that used to be one of the more popular varieties back then.”

The best way to choose and store cucumbers

“You’re looking for a firmness, any sign of them being soft means they’ve been stored for too long or incorrectly,” says Oliver.

He also suggests selecting cucumbers that are smaller in size.

Back at home, keep them refrigerated in an airtight container.

“You want to get as little air flow around your fresh produce as possible when it goes in the fridge because the cool air destroys them,” says Oliver.

Victoria’s Better Health recommends consuming your cucumbers within five days of purchase.

Using cucumbers beyond the lunchbox

Recipe developer Cle-Ann Stampolidis knows there’s more to cucumbers than being a reliable snack.

“Of course being Greek, we make a lot of tzatziki with cucumbers and when I wring out the cucumbers, I always reserve the cucumber water,” she says.

“I store the water in the fridge then use it to make a refreshing summer drink with sugar syrup, mint and ice, you can also make an alcoholic version with some gin.”

At the end of the week when the cucumbers are starting to look a bit sad, Cle-Ann suggests a quick pickle with a simple brine.

“I make a pickle salad with Mexican sour pickles, but any cucumber is fine, and with a leafy green like mizuna,” she says.

“It goes well with grilled meats and anything you need to cut the fat with, like mac and cheese.”

Another pairing Cle-Ann can’t get enough of is cucumber with watermelon.

“This is another Greek salad we love, just mix cucumber, watermelon, some mint, feta and drizzle with red wine vinegar.”

For a vegan alternative, Cle-Ann swaps out the feta for black olives for a salty kick.

Growing tips for the home gardener

If you’re growing cucumbers in your backyard veggie patch, Oliver says there’s three components to maximising your yield: good soil, good night time temperatures and, most importantly, consistent watering.

“Cucumbers are predominantly made up of water and as long as you keep watering them, you’ll get really high-quality fruit,” he says.

“When you get variations in size, where the top of the cucumber is big and the bottom is smaller, it’s because your watering has been inconsistent.”

Cucumbers benefit from being watered daily and making sure the water directly hits the soil and fruits’ roots.

A benefit for the home gardener is that cucumbers grow rapidly.

The fruit grows on a creeping vine and prefers to climb vertically. You can support growth of your plant by threading the vine through a trellis or netting system.

When to harvest cucumbers

Oliver’s rule when harvesting cucumbers is not to overthink it.

“It depends on the variety but generally you want to pick cucumbers when they’re on the smaller side before the seeds fully develop and the skin toughens,” he says.

“Cucumbers grow so fast, so when you see them, pick them because if you come back to it tomorrow it might be too big to pick.”

Oliver suggests picking smaller varieties, including Richmond green apple cucumbers, when they’re as big as a 50-cent coin (yes, they’re super small!). For larger varieties, such as the Lebanese cucumber, wait until the fruit has a 20-cent coin diameter and is about 10-15 centimetres long.

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