Health benefits of Cucumber

Cucumber is easy to grow. Varieties, varying in size, shape, and color, are cultivated all around the world. In general, the fruit features dark-green skin, crispy moisture rich flesh, and small edible seeds concentrated at its core. 

Armenian cucumbers (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus) are long, crispy, and thin-ribbed, curved, and have light green color. Although grouped botanically in the melon family, they appear and taste just like cucumbers.

Miniature varieties such as gherkins, American-dills, and French-cornichons are very small indeed and usually preferred in pickling.

Dosakayi is a yellow Indian curry cucumber, has sweet taste and neutral flavor. It is used extensively in the preparation of stews and curries, particularly during the summer season in southern parts of India and Sri Lanka.

Health Benefits

Most people are unaware of the immense health benefits of cucumber and would avoid eating cucumber where possible. Fresh cucumber may taste “bland” to some but its thirst-quenching and cooling properties are refreshing. It acts as an anti-oxidant when taken together with fried and barbequed foods.

I like to mix cucumber juice with carrot or orange juices.

 

Nutritional Benefits

Cucumber has an impressive amount of water (about 96%) that is naturally distilled, which makes it superior to ordinary water. Its skin contains a high percentage of vitamin A, so should not be peeled off.

The cucumber contains alkaline-forming minerals and is an excellent source of vitamin C and A (anti-oxidants), folate, manganese, molybdenum, potassium, silica, sulfur, and lesser amounts of vitamin B complex, sodium, calcium, and phosphorus.

You have seen beauty practitioners use slices of cucumber on their eyes. It is found that the caffeic acid in this vegetable helps to prevent water retention and when applied topically, helps reduce puffy and swollen eyes.

  

16  Health Benefits of Cucumber

·         Keeps you hydrated. If you are too busy to drink enough water, munch on the cool cucumber, which is 96 percent water. It will cheerfully compensate!

·         Fights heat, both inside and out. Eat cucumber, and your body gets relief from heartburn. Apply cucumber on your skin, and you get relief from sunburn.

·         Flushes out toxins. All that water in cucumber acts as a virtual broom, sweeping waste products out of your system. With regular use, cucumber is known to dissolve kidney stones.

·         Lavishes you with vitamins. A B and C, which boost immunity, give you energy, and keep you radiant. Give it more power by juicing cucumber with carrot and spinach.

·         Supplies skin-friendly minerals: magnesium, potassium, silicon. That’s why cucumber-based treatments abound in spas.

·         Aids in weight loss. Enjoy cucumbers in your salads and soups. My favorite snack? Crunchy cucumber sticks with creamy low-fat yogurt dip.

·         Revives the eyes. Placing chilled slices of cucumber on the eyes is a clichéd beauty visual, but it really helps reduce under-eye bags and puffiness.

·         Cuts cancer. Cut down your risk of several cancers by including cucumber in your diet. Several studies show its cancer-fighting potential.

·         Stabilizes blood pressure. Patients of blood pressure, both high and low, often find that eating cucumber brings relief.

·         Refreshes the mouth. Cucumber juice refreshes and heals diseased gums, leaving your mouth smelling good.

·         Helps digestion. Chewing cucumber gives the jaws a good workout, and the fiber in it is great for digestion.

·         Smooths hair and nails. Silica, the wonder mineral in cucumber makes your hair and nails stronger and shinier.

·         Soothes muscle and joint pain. All those vitamins and minerals in cucumber make it a powerful enemy of muscle and joint pain.

·         Keeps kidneys in shape. Cucumber lowers uric acid levels in your system, keeping the kidneys happy.

·         Good for diabetics. Patients of diabetes can enjoy cucumber while also reaping its health benefits: cucumber contains a hormone needed by the cells of the pancreas for producing insulin.

·         Reduces cholesterol. A compound called sterols in cucumber helps reduce bad cholesterol.

See the table below for in depth analysis of nutrients: Cucumber (Cucumis sativus), raw, Nutritive value per 100 g. (Source: USDA National Nutrient data base)
Principle	Nutrient Value	Percentage of RDA
Energy	15 Kcal	<1%
Carbohydrates	3.63 g	3%
Protein	0.65 g	1%
Total Fat	0.11 g	0.5%
Cholesterol	0 mg	0%
Dietary Fiber	0.5 g	1%
Vitamins
Folates	7 µg	2%
Niacin	0.098 mg	<1%
Pantothenic acid	0.259 mg	5%
Pyridoxine	0.040 mg	3%
Riboflavin	0.033 mg	3%
Thiamin	0.027 mg	2%
Vitamin A	105 IU	3.5%
Vitamin C	2.8 mg	4.5%
Vitamin E	0.03 mg	0%
Vitamin K	16.4 µg	13.6%
Electrolytes
Sodium	2 mg	0%
Potassium	147 mg	3%
Minerals
Calcium	16 mg	1.6%
Iron	0.28 mg	3.5%
Magnesium	13 mg	3%
Manganese	0.079 mg	3.5%
Phosphorus	24 mg	3%
Phosphorus
Zinc	0.20 mg	2%
Phyto-nutrients
Carotene-β	45 µg	--
Crypto-xanthin-β	26 µg	--
Lutein-zeaxanthin	23 µg	--

Cucumber Planting & Growing Guidelines: Cucumbers don't like cold soil, and they don't tolerate frost, so wait for warm spring days and soil temperatures above 60° F (16° C) to plant, or warm the soil with black plastic for a week or two before planting. Schedule your last sowing of the season ten weeks before the first fall frost is expected. 

Plant seeds 1/2 inch (1.25) deep with at least three plants for effective pollination. Grow long-fruited cucumbers on a trellis to help keep the fruits straight. Space trellised plants 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) apart. Short, blunt slicers and pickling cucumbers can be trellised or allowed to run on the ground. When planted in hill and allowed to run, grow three to four plants to a 4 inch (10 cm) hill spaced 1 to 2 feet (20 to 60 cm) apart. Mulch to keep the soil moist and warm. Germination should take place within 5 to 10 days. 

Cucumbers need regular food and water. Drought stress can cause some cucumbers to taste bitter, especially at the stem end of the fruit. It's normal for leaves to wilt on hot days, but they should recover by evening and nightfall. Prolonged wilting into the evening hours indicate water stress or disease problems.

If trellising your cucumbers you can use a fence, tomato cage, three stakes tied together to make a teepee, or a string attached to posts. Tie vines loosely to the trellis with strips of soft cloth. 

Compact, bushy varieties with small fruit can be grown very successfully in containers. Water them frequently to keep moist, but not wet, and feed them every two weeks with soluble fertilizer like a 5-5-5 or a 10-10-10. If your container is large enough, you can put up a trellis and grow cucumber varieties that tend to have long runners.
Fertilizing: Lightly broadcast some 10-10-10 over the area, till in, and then plant

 transplants or sow seeds. When the plants just start to vine, side-dress with 1 tablespoon (15 ml) per plant of 5-10-10, or one large handful of good compost which generally equals the same. Sprinkle around the base of the plant, but not up against the stem, and water in. 

Pest and Disease Prevention: Select disease resistant cultivars. Use row covers to protect young plants from cucumber beetles and squash bugs, but remove when plants flower. Trellising will help improve air circulation and reduce mildew. Do not grow cucumbers or their relatives, such as squash and melons, in the same spot more often than once every three years.

Harvest/Storage

·         Harvest regular slicing cucumbers when they about 6 to 8 inches long (slicing varieties).

·         Harvest dills at 4 to 6 inches long and pickles at 2 inches long for pickles. The large burp-less cucumbers can be up to 10 inches long and some types are even larger.

·         Cucumbers are best picked before they seeds become hard and are eaten when immature. Do not let them get yellow. A cucumber is of highest quality when it is uniformly green, firm and crisp. 

·         Any cucumbers left on the vine too long will also get tough skins and lower plant productivity.

·         At peak harvesting time, you should be picking cucumbers every couple of days.

·         Keep them picked. If you don’t, as plants mature, they will stop producing.

·         Cucumbers are over 90 percent water. Store wrapped tightly in plastic wrap to retain moisture.

·         They will keep for a week to 10 days when stored properly in the refrigerator.