Cucumber

Description: A tropical annual plant with an angular stem. Creeping or twining stems have tendrils and are usually 1-4 m long. Branched roots rarely penetrate deeper than 20-25 cm into the soil. Leaves are bright green, long petioled, rough, with five points. Flowers are bright yellow. Fruits are large, oblong, club-shaped, ovoid or cylindrical berries. Immature fruits are green, ripe ones orange-yellow to brown.

Origin and Distribution: Native to the northern part of eastern India. Cucumbers first appeared in Greece and Italy in about the 5th century BC, and their bitter-tasting fruit was consumed either fresh, or steamed or baked. The present cultivated cucumber came to Europe in the 17th century from Byzantium (now Turkey), and their cultivation spread throughout the temperate zone, being grown in fields, gardens and greenhouses.

Constituents: Cucumber juice contains organic acids, sugars, traces of chlorophyll, salt solutions, a vitamin complex and other substances, the so-called bioactivators with a pronounced diuretic and ‘blood-cleansing’ effect.

Cosmetic Uses: One of the best skin cleansers, suitable even for hypersensitive skin which cannot tolerate soap or hard water. Cucumber juice can be used fresh, or in the form of a skin lotion: fresh cucumbers are grated with a stainless-steel grater, mixed with an equal amount of diluted alcohol and extracted for about a week in a closed glass vessel. Then the resulting fluid is strained off and the rest pressed out from the pulp, and an equal amount of distilled water and 2 spoonfuls of glycerol are added. Face packs prepared from fresh grated cucumber are excellent for problem skin with clogged pores. A cucumber pack has an astringent, slightly whitening and smoothing effect on tired or rough skin. Ready-made cucumber extracts are used in many manufactured products.

Other Uses: Cucumbers are grown as a popular vegetable and are used mainly raw in salads. Large amounts are also preserved by pickling.

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