by Taetske | 4:08 pm
(Last Updated On: October 26, 2021)

Who would have thought a Cucumber is so Helpful

 

A little about the simple cucumber

I suppose everybody knows what a cucumber is, and most people will eat this vegetable regularly. Until recently I was not aware of its multiple facets and that is why I would like to tell you about it.

The cucumber grows on creeping vines and originally came from South Asia. They have cultivated this vegetable for over 3000 years. It is mentioned that people of ancient Ur had cucumbers as food.

Also Pliny the Elder refers to the Italian fruit and describes the many varieties existing. It seems that the Romans used the cucumber for scorpion bites, poor eyesight, and midwives would carry cucumbers until the child was born.

Nowadays you can buy cucumber nearly everywhere be it the type for slicing, like in your salads or the other one mainly used for pickling. Then there is also the type that has no seeds.

 

Cucumber growing on vine

Cucumber growing on vine image Hiko Matsudah

 

Is it really a vegetable?

We all think of cucumber as a vegetable when actually it is classified as a type of a botanical berry as it has a hard outside rind and no internal divisions, similar to the tomatoes or squash.

The cucumber is very low in calories, with only 16 kilo-calories on 100 grams of raw cucumber with the peel. It has quite a few nutrients and is an excellent source of vitamin k, providing up to 16% of the recommended daily allowances of this vitamin.

In old times in the south of Spain, a man leading a donkey would visit the villages. On the donkey’s side were hanging big earthenware jars in which extra virgin olive oil was being kept. This oil had quite a bit of vitamin K. Good olive oil has a strong smell and is dark yellow or light green.

When modern times started, people switched over to margarine and sunflower oil and suffered illnesses that were unheard of before.

As we have turned away from nature, we normally do not get enough vitamin K, therefore if you do not have an excellent source of virgin olive oil, the cucumber can help you out.

 

Celebrating this cucumber

There is an unusual ceremony which is the blessing of the cucumber. In the summer, when the temperatures rise in the Shingon Buddhist temples in Japan, this blessing is taking place. The priest and the faithful pray they may come out of the hot summer season as fresh as a cucumber.

I saw a picture of the temple where a table had an enormous pile of cucumbers laying there for the ceremony. I rather like this unusual story.

 

Pickled Cucumbers

Pickled Cucumbers image iva balk

 

Some interesting ways to use the cucumber

I read some little-known facts about cucumbers and how they may help in your daily life so I would like to share this with you.

Instead of drinking a soda pop when you start feeling tired, how about eating or juicing some cucumbers? They are a much better alternative and will pep you up for quite some hours. Cucumbers have little sugar and the effect is better for your health than man-made juice.

After a party with too much alcohol, instead of taking aspirin before going to bed, try to eat a few slices of cucumber. By the next morning, you will realize you have no hangover or headache. Cucumbers have enough sugar, B vitamins, and electrolytes to compensate for the lost nutrients.

Another great use of cucumber is when after a meal you realize you do not have a piece of gum or mints. Stick a slice of cucumber to the roof of your mouth. Keep it there for 30 seconds and the phytochemical will have killed all the bacteria, which causes you to have bad breath.

 

Such a helpful book

This superfood is not only good for the inside, but for the outside as well. Are you interested in some beauty secrets? You will find great tips for skin and hair. Included, you will get some healthy cucumber recipes too.

 

 

There are also some clever tips for your house

If you have decided to go green, as much as possible you will for sure like this. Instead of using some chemicals to clean your faucets, sinks, and stainless steel surfaces, how about trying cucumber?

Take a slice to remove the tarnish and it will make everything shine and at the same time is kind to your fingernails. Also, the water which one uses for rinsing will not contain harmful chemicals, so you are doing something good for the environment.

Have you ever been irritated by a squeaky hinge? Now there is an easy solution to this problem. Just take a piece of cucumber and rub it on the hinge. It will surprise you when the squeak has gone.

 

A big help for your vegetable garden

Here comes a nice tip for you, gardeners. If you have a” green” vegetable garden, slugs and grubs can ruin your crop. As we do not use pesticides, what can one do instead? You take a small pie tin in which you put a few slices of cucumber. Your vegetable garden will be free of pests all season long.

It seems that the chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum and so give off a scent that we cannot smell but drive all unwanted critters crazy, so they stay away. I personally like this as one does not kill the slugs or grubs, neither does one poison them which is good as they are a food source for other animals.

 

Snail eating a leaf

Snail eating leaf image Eva Engvall

 

There is a lot more to the cucumber than one originally might have thought

Cucumbers contain a lot of beneficial things which only lately have been discovered by science. Cucumbers contain 3 types of phytonutrient, Cucurbitaceous, Lignans, and Flavonoids.

They have an important role in our body as they fight oxidation, inflammation and are also helpful in the battle against cancer. The list of vitamins is quite long. Cucumbers contain vitamin K, molybdenum, pantothenic acid, potassium, phosphorus, copper, manganese, vitamin C, vitamin B1, biotin, and magnesium.

 

Conclusion

After reading this post, you might want to grow your own cucumbers. Here is a nice and practical video of how to grow them vertically, like that you save a lot of space. No need to say that if you grow your own cucumbers, you will not be confronted with this vegetable with a plastic layer put on.

That is done, so the vegetable stays fresh longer, but it means you cannot use the peel. Grow your own organic cucumbers, like that you know what you are eating.

YouTube video on how to grow your own cucumbers.

 

 

I have made a special page for you. It holds a collection of things you might find interesting. Before you leave, have a look at Recommendations.

 

Source: Wikipedia and Wikivoyage

Photo Source: Pixabay

 

Nature is amazing and holds many health surprises. I am a fan of coconut oil. I use it in the morning for oil pulling. I eat a spoonful a day and also put coconut milk into my coffee. Perhaps you would like to read the following post.

Do You Know the Many Health Benefits of Coconut Oil?

Comments

Patsy

Hello Taetske,
I love cucumbers and eat them often whether in a salad or as is for a snack. I had no idea all of the benefits they have until reading your helpful article.

I was surprised to read they have B vitamins and electrolytes, or that you can pickle them and use them for your household as well. I really like that you can place a few slices in a pie tin to keep pests away! I will definitely use this method when I eventually have my vegetable garden.

Thanks for this informative read, as are the other articles I have read also.

Patsy

Apr 08.2018 | 08:12 pm

    Taetske

    Good afternoon Patsy,

    Thank you for visiting my website and reading my post on the cucumber. Yes, it is quite amazing what this humble vegetable can do be it for your health and also in the house and outdoors. Let’s hope you will have a vegetable garden soon so you can try out the tip of the cucumber combined with aluminum foil to keep naughty insects away.Hope to see you again.

    Regards, Taetske

    Apr 09.2018 | 01:41 pm

MovieFan

Hi,

Oh how i love cucumbers that I used to eat it by it’s own or to adds spice I dip it to apple cider vinegar with cracked peper. I did’nt know know that cucumber can be use as cleaning agents and for gardening. All i know is it helps me with my diabetes. Thanks for this very informative post.

All the best,

Anastacio

Nov 09.2018 | 02:43 pm

    Taetske

    Good afternoon Anastacio,

    Thank you for reading my post and leaving a comment. I hope you have downloaded your free PDF?

    I like to make a sauce with some honey, apple cider vinegar, some Kefir, garlic and perhaps dill, and salt and pepper. Then I thinly slice the cucumber, a really good salad.

    Regards, Taetske

    Nov 09.2018 | 05:51 pm

joseph webster

Wow who knew you could use cucumber for so much. I especially like the green element about using it to clean the home. I I also never knew the Romans used it. And I always thought it was a vegetable shows how much I knew prior to reading your blog post. Really nice layout to your site too.

Nov 09.2018 | 02:43 pm

    Taetske

    Good evening Joseph,

    Thank you for leaving a comment on my website. I hope you downloaded your free PDF?

    I was also surprised that this humble vegetable had so many unknown things, nature is quite amazing. 

    Happy to hear you like my website, I hope to see you again.

    Regards, Taetske

    Nov 09.2018 | 05:51 pm

andy

I never knew that cucumbers could do so much. I like cucumbers but don’t really eat them all of the time. After reading all about them here in your post, I want to go out and get lots of cucumbers. Who knew they could be so beneficial. I love that it can help with bad breath and can be used to pep you up without the use of the extra sugars in man made juices.

Feb 24.2019 | 08:20 pm

    Taetske

    Good Morning Andy,

    Thank you for leaving a comment on my website. I hope you downloaded your free PDF?

    Nature has everything we need to maintain good health. I was also surprised to find out all these details about the cucumbers benefits. I eat them quite often but now I might start eating them even more.

    Regards, Taetske

    Feb 25.2019 | 07:32 am

Daniel

Hi Taetske, I must say that I am really surprised after reading this article. I like to eat cucumber and it is normally in my daily menu but I did not know such great things about it. I enjoy eating it like a salad and my mom uses it as a face mask to look fresher. It is great that you shared these awesome benefits that cucumber gives us.

Feb 24.2019 | 08:23 pm

    Taetske

    Good Morning Daniel,

    Nice to see you again. Thank you for your comment.

    Who would have thought the simple cucumber has so many good things. Having a website one investigates when writing a post. I find t nice that I learn new things along the way. There you see one is never too old to learn.

    Regards, Taetske

    Feb 25.2019 | 07:28 am

ajibola40

Great article there on cucumber. You really do a good job putting all these writings and findings together. This article is so informative and educative on cucumber and its health benefits 

I did not know that cucumber has a lot of benefits until now that I read about it in this article 

I don’t like the taste of it but reading all this will make me develop attention towards it 

Feb 24.2019 | 08:26 pm

    Taetske

    Good Morning Ajibola,

    Thank you for visiting my website and leaving a comment. I hope you downloaded your free PDF?

    Personally, I like the taste of cucumber and nearly always use it in my mixed salads. I was also surprised to find out about its health properties and its many uses. Nature produces some amazing things for us.

    Regards, Taetske

    Feb 25.2019 | 07:25 am

Leo

Hey Taetske,

I have my own no-till  “Back to Eden” garden.

Cucumber is with tomatoes and melons one of my favorite vegetables.Since every good organic gardener keeps his seeds, so I have my own seed, and my favorite cucumber variety is Sikkim cucumber. Sikkim cucumber is excellent, never bitter, and always is sweet and full of juice.

I can send some seeds if you can’t find in Spain. I am from Croatia.

Have a nice day,

Leo

Feb 24.2019 | 08:31 pm

    Taetske

    Good Morning Leo,

    That sounds exciting to have ones own Back to Eden garden. I do not really know what a no-till garden is, you do not work the soil?

    When Michael moved from the U.S. to Spain in Aug. 2016 he said he was going to take care of the vegetable garden. It is not as easy as he thought, the climate and soil are different so he is still experimenting a bit.

    I had no idea what a Sikkim Cucumber is so I looked it up. Now that is a super cucumber I must say, huge and nice looking. I have never seen it here in the south of Spain but will investigate. 

    Thank you for your kind offer, I might come back on that.

    Thank you for your comment. I hope you downloaded your free PDF?

    Regards, Taetske

    Feb 25.2019 | 07:18 am

bajram

Thanks for sharing. Thank you once again for this very valuable article and very well explained by you. I also have cucumbers from time to time, especially when they come out young have many vitamins and good natural values. They have a lot of vitamins b and some other vitamins with great nutritional properties as well. The cucumber is very useful for keeping good health. I will share this article with my friends

Feb 24.2019 | 08:36 pm

    Taetske

    Good Morning Bajram,

    Thank you for leaving a comment on my website. I hope you downloaded your free PDF?

    I was really surprised to find out about the health properties of the cucumber. Nature never stops to amaze me. That is a nice idea to share my article with your friends.

    Regards, Taetske

    Feb 25.2019 | 07:10 am

Misael H

Wow! I did not understand that there was so much that went into cucumbers and all the benefits they hold! I never even knew about tiny little pickled cucumbers the way you have them here. I have never really been a fan of pickles or cucumbers, but I am a firm believer that anything good for me is worth trying to mix into my diet. Your article has opened my eyes on cucumbers and their benefits so i really appreciate that a lot.

Nov 05.2020 | 06:16 pm

    Taetske

    Good Morning Misael,

    I am trying to grow cucumber in my vegetable garden. I hope it is a success as I prefer to eat organic. What I grow myself is with no harmful pesticide as I live on a “green” farm.

    Thank you for your visit and for your comment. I hope you downloaded your free PDF? Tulip widget.

    Regards, Taetske

    Nov 08.2020 | 07:28 am

DaneMichel

Hello there, 

We have a lot to learn about some very common things available to us by nature, and I have to admit that seeing the benefit of this cucumber is very important to me. I love the fact that it kisses bacteria and that could be harmful to us if not taken care of. I’ll love to share with other people so they can also benefit from this wonderful article 

Nov 05.2020 | 06:21 pm

    Taetske

    Good Morning Dane,

    Thank you for stopping by and for your comment. I hope you downloaded your free PDF? Tulip widget.

    I also found it quite amazing when I read that cucumber has so many health benefits. I am now trying to grow it in my vegetable garden. 

    Regards, Taetske

    Nov 08.2020 | 07:24 am

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