Cool as a Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)

By: Tricia Ambroziak, NAHA Certified Professional Aromatherapist®

Growing up in Pennsylvania, I enjoyed a large backyard that flowed fenceless from one neighbor to the next and bordered a vast grove of trees, vines, plants, and forest life that to my childish eyes seemed to go on forever. Each spring my parents would till up a large patch of the yard for our summer garden, which meant less lawn to mow for me, and a summer bounty of beans, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, and cucumbers to enjoy. 

To counter the hot, humid days of summer, we’d spend much of our time in the pool, and enjoyed dinners featuring a refreshing salad of sliced cucumber and tomatoes harvested from our backyard garden that would hit the spot – especially when chilled.

Refreshing and cooling could be cucumber’s (Cucumis sativus) middle name. And the hydrosol is likewise as refreshing, cooling, and rejuvenating. But cucumbers have not always been appreciated – and perhaps still are not. And although they may be comprised mostly of water, cucumbers and the hydrosol have much to offer.   

Cultivation and Botany

Cucumis sativus is a member of the Cucurbitaceae or gourd family, which includes crops like squashes, pumpkins, melons, and watermelons.¹

“Wild cucumber” refers to fruit from the genera Echinocystis and Marah but it is not closely related to Cucumis sativus.^2,3

Although there are many varieties and cultivars of cucumber with fruit that varies in size, shape, and color, C. sativus is typically a climbing or sprawling vine that sports large leaves, thin spiraling tendrils, and a cylindrical green-skinned fruit. The plant roots into the soil and wraps it tendrils around supporting structures to grow upward or simply creeps along the ground if support is unavailable.

The leaves act like a canopy over the fruit that can grow up to twenty-four inches (sixty centimeters) long with a diameter of 3.9 inches (ten centimeters), with much variance in size and shape between cultivars.¹  

Cucumber, although treated as a vegetable, is a type of botanical berry or pepo and is comprised mostly of water, about 95%, along with 2 to 3% of the daily value of numerous vitamins and minerals, and a notable amount of Vitamin K at 16% of the daily value.^4,5

The Secret Life of Cucumbers: Blossoms, Bees, and Socrates

C. sativus includes parthenocarpic cultivars that produce seedless fruit sans pollination, but most do require pollination and produce seeded fruits. Most cultivars are self-incompatible and require pollen from a different plant to produce fruit and seeds.

Traditionally cultivars produce male blossoms first, then female blossoms in roughly equal numbers. Some newer gynoecious hybrids produce mostly female blossoms and require a pollinizer inter-planted along with an increased number of beehives or pollinators. Temperature fluctuations induce male flowers even in the predominately female hybrids and may produce sufficient pollination. Poor or incomplete pollination results in misshapen and withered fruit.¹

The three major varieties include slicing, pickling, and burpless cucumbers. A glance at the varieties or cultivars of cucumbers includes scientific sounding names such as SR2389CW and more interesting and sometimes telling names such as burpless beauty, slicemaster select, Northern picking, lemon, diva, thunderbird, gherkin, sweeter yet, and even Socrates. Exciting to know you could possibly have a salad with Socrates, a thunderbird, or even a diva.⁶

One can find or grow anything from one-inch gherkins to those reaching over a foot long. And though many of us are familiar with the tube-shaped fruit with tapered ends, picked while green, and eaten raw or pickled, cultivars can vary. Some produce round or yellow fruit, have been selected to be seedless and thin-skinned, and some, like thick-skinned German Schalgurken, are peeled and cooked rather than eaten raw.

Cucumbers to Cowcumbers, Love and Scorn: A Brief History of Cucumis sativus

Believed to be native to India the cucumber has been cultivated in Western Asia for at least three thousand years or longer. Spirit Cave excavations on the Burma-Thailand border found seeds of cucumber, peas, beans, and water chestnuts dating to 9750 BCE.^1,7

The fruit is mentioned in the Bible, among the products of ancient Ur, and in the legend of Gilgamesh.¹

The wild predecessor of the present-day cucumber that many have come to know and enjoy is unclear. It is thought that the small, bitter, spiny Cucumis hardwickii of the Himalayas is a good candidate. “It may have been C. hardwickii that the unfortunate Enkidu ate along with worms, figs, and caper buds in the ancient Sumerian epic Gilgamesh,” according to Rebecca Rupp.⁷

From India the cucumber spread to Greece and Italy then on to China. Pliny the Elder (AD 73 – AD 29) mentions that Emperor Tiberius was quite fond of cucumber and “was never without it.”  The Romans used an artificial greenhouse-like system to ensure cucumber was available for the Emperor’s table every day of the year.⁷

Pliny the Elder describes the Italian fruit as quite small, quite like a gherkin and the wild as even smaller. He describes several varieties and the remedies from them. The Romans reportedly used cucumbers to treat scorpion bites, poor eyesight, and to deter mice. Cucumbers were worn by women wishing for children, carried by midwifes, and discarded when the child was born.¹

The Greeks were said to mash cucumbers with honey and snow to create a refreshing sherbet while the Romans would boil them and serve with oil, honey, and vinegar.

The decline of the Roman Empire also marked a decline in cucumber cultivation. By the sixteenth century cucumber’s popularity resurged. Charlemagne (742 AD – 814AD), Charles the Great, ordered them planted in Royal gardens and declared them his favorite fruit, eating them for dessert in custard tarts.⁷ Charlemagne’s father, Pepin (the Wise) of France, believed steeping seeds in cucumber juice acted as a natural pesticide and had them planted around his vineyards perhaps influencing his son’s love of them.

Cucumbers were reportedly brought to England in the 1300s, lost, and reintroduced about 250 years later. They supposedly only became popular during reign of Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) as Catherine of Aragon (1485 – 1536), the first of Henry’s six wives, enjoyed them sliced in her Spanish salads.⁷

Cucumbers outlasted Henry’s wives and by the reign of Elizabeth I (1533 – 1603) English gardens bulged with five varieties: The Common, the Turkey, the Adder, the Pear Fashion, and a “rare and beautiful” cucumber from Spain spotted in “divers colours” and a foot in length.⁸

In 1494 cucumbers arrived in Haiti via Spanish explorers and French explorer Jacques Cartier found “very great cucumbers” grown in present day Montreal.

The Native American tribes of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains learned to grow cucumbers along with watermelons and European crops from the Spanish in the 1500s.

In 1633’s New England Prospect (published in England) English colonist and author William Wood wrote about his observations in America: “The ground affords very good kitchin gardens, for Turneps, Parsnips, Carrots, Rashishes, and Pompions, Muskmillons, Isquoter-sqaushes, coucumbars, Onyons, and whatever grows in England grows there as well, many things being bigger and larger.”⁹

By the late 1600s contemporary health publications warned that uncooked plants brought summer disease and should never be fed to children. This sordid reputation stuck for an undue period of time: “fit only for consumption by cows,” which likely led to the alias “cowcumber.”¹

L’Agriculture et Masion Rustique (The Country Farm) translated from French in 1616 warns “The use of Cucumbers is altogether hurtfull.” Cucumbers filled the body with “cold noughtie humors” and caused ague (a malaria-like fever) warned contemporary medical experts.¹⁰

August 22, 1663: “This day Sir W. Batten tells me that Mr. Newhouse is dead of eating cowcumbers, of which the other day I heard of another, I think, Sir Nicholas Crisp’s son,” warned Samuel Pepys (1633 – 1703) in his diary.¹¹

“Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out,” suggests Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784), an English writer from the 1700s.

This plant appeared to have smaller, bean shaped fruits and small yellow flowers based on a copper etching by Maddalena Bouchard, an engraver of botanical plates, done in the late 1700s.¹

In the 1700s explorer Fredrik Hasselquist (1722 – 1752) came across the Egyptian or hairy cucumber (Cucumis chate). It is the “queen of cucumbers, refreshing, sweet, solid, and wholesome” Hasselquist states, “they still form a great part of the food of the lower-class people in Egypt serving them for meat, drink, and physic.”¹

Perhaps this description along with the royal popularity of the cucumber in England and France helped redeem the lowly “cowcumber.” As seen in modern times, salmonella outbreak can be linked to cucumber and other vegetables and perhaps was an underlying cause of deaths and illness related to cucumbers in the 1600s and 1700s.

These days, cucumbers are readily available in grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and for growing in home gardens and enjoyed in a variety of cuisines thankfully sans the stern warnings of earlier days.

A glance at a typical seed catalogue boasts at least eighteen to twenty-four cultivars of cucumber of all sorts of shapes and sizes available for gardens. So yes, it is still safe to have salad with Socrates, the diva, and even the Thunderbird or even get into a pickle so to speak, with whatever cultivar strikes your fancy.

Therapeutic Uses of Cucumber Fruit and Hydrosol

The biblical Apocrypha declares, “A scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keeps nothing.”  In some ways people suppose this aptly describes a cucumber – nutritionally speaking it contains about 95% water and it takes 120 unpeeled cucumbers to equal the vitamin A in a single carrot.¹²

But others suggest that cucumbers provide a hydrating mini dose of assorted nutrients such as vitamin K, B vitamins, vitamin C, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc plus a wealth of phytonutrients such as flavonoids, lignans, and triterpenes. These phytonutrients offer anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

In the study, Phytochemical and therapeutic potential of cucumber (C. sativus L.), the authors note that cucumber was used in Indian traditional medicine since ancient times noting its potential antidiabetic, lipid lowering, and antioxidant ability.

They state that cucumber can help cleanse the body of waste and toxins and the fresh juice is nourishing and soothing to the skin. They highlight Cucumis sativas’ anti-inflammatory, tonic, and cooling properties and state that the fruit is useful for hydration, skin irritations, sunburn, sunstroke, staunching bleeding, and the seeds in fighting constipation.

The authors report several bioactive compounds such as cucurbitacins, cucumegastigmanes I and II, cucumerin A and B, vitexin, orientin, isoscoparin 2″-O-(6‴-(E)-p-coumaroyl) glucoside, apigenin 7-O-(6″-O-p-coumaroylglucoside) that contribute to the cucumber’s effects.¹³

The roots of “wild cucumber” (although not closely related to C. sativus) were used by Native Americans as an analgesic and love potion. Some tribes used it to soothe rheumatism.¹⁴ Cucumbers can be high in silica (this may vary from plant to plant) and promote healthy connective tissue, bone density, and joint health.¹⁵ Ayurvedic principles suggest cucumbers pacify pitta or heat associated dosha, aid in hydration, replenishing vitamins, support digestion and weight loss.¹⁶

Cucumber is over 90% water. The hydrosol resembles the fruit – cool, crisp, and refreshing with the aroma and taste of cucumber, with toning, soothing, and cooling properties. As such it can be helpful with hot skin issues and as an anti-inflammatory. Suggestions by vendors for use include reducing fluid retention, digestive support, reducing inflammation, combating itching and rashes, soothing around tired or puffy eyes, and as a skin toner and conditioner.¹⁷

Cucumber hydrosol works wonderfully in an after-sun spray, as a facial toner, to cool itchy or dry skin, in a foot soak or bath, a spray to soothe cuts and scrapes, or anywhere cooling, hydrating, or soothing is needed.

Surprisingly, I find no real mention of cucumber hydrosol in Suzanne Catty’s book Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy, but it’s readily available from a number of reliable vendors.

In Harvest to Hydrosol, a GCMS report of cucumber hydrosol reveals its highest components include linalool, alpha-terpineol, camphor, and 1,8 cineole. However. the notes state: “I do not suspect this is a true hydrosol.” ¹⁸

In Aromatic Waters: Therapeutic, Cosmetic, and Culinary Hydrosol Applications cucumber hydrosol is described as mild, sweet, and having a vegetal aroma with, yes, you guessed it, cooling and hydrating properties. The author suggests using chilled cucumber hydrosol on cotton rounds over closed eyes for cooling, relieving eyestrain, itching, or puffiness.¹⁹

As temperatures heat up you’ll want to keep Cucumis sativus and its hydrosol handy. The fruit is ideal for cool summer dishes and the hydrosol is an ideal base for a summer adventure spray for cuts and scrapes, to repel insects, to simply cool off, in an after-sun spray or lotion, to keep skin looking refreshed, or to reduce swelling or puffy eyes (use only around the eyes NOT in them). 

So, keep it cool with C. sativus this summer whether it’s with the hydrosol, Socrates, diva, thunderbird, or good old SR2389CW cultivars. Hydrating, cooling cucumber and hydrosol will hit the spot.

Just Cool It Spray

A wonderfully cooling spray to clean cuts and scrapes, to soothe skin after a day in the sun* or simply as a cooling spray to beat the heat.

* Be sure to protect your skin from excessive sun with hats, clothing, and sun block.

You will need a clean 2-oz. to 4-oz. glass spray bottle.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. Solubol or another natural dispersant 10 mL aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis) gel

Hydrosols:

• 30 mL cucumber (Cucumis sativus)
• 20 mL peppermint (Mentha × piperita)
• 10 drops lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
• 5 drops tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia)
• 5 drops peppermint (Mentha × piperita)

Instructions for Making and Use:

Add essential oils to the glass bottle. Add the solubol. Add hydrosol, and aloe vera gel. Cap the bottle. Mix gently to combine. Spray a couple of times onto cuts and scrape to gently clean and soothe skin. Avoid spraying into eyes. If you are making this blend for children, half the amount of each ingredient listed. Store in the refrigerator for even more cooling power. Make a fresh batch every few weeks.

Cautions: Avoid using in pregnancy. Avoid use with, and around, babies and young children under three years of age.

Cucumber Lime Ice Pops

Since cucumbers are mostly made up of water, using the fruit is not dissimilar to using the hydrosol. Cool off with these refreshing treats. While many recipes for ice pops, popsicles, or paletas call for simple syrup you can substitute honey, agave nectar, fruit juice, pureed fruit, or even skip it altogether and use more cucumber puree for a more nutritious version.

Ingredients:

• 1 large cucumber peeled (10 to 12-oz.)
• 1/3 cup warm water*
• 2/3 cup of honey or to taste*
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon or more of herbs if desired (for example, ginger (Zingiber officinale), dill (Anethum graveolens), basil (Ocimum basilicum))
• popsicle or paleta molds
• popsicle sticks

*Substitute with a cup of simple syrup, agave nectar, fruit juice, or fruit puree to create your own version of these pops, making them as sweet or not so sweet as you like. 

Instructions for Making and Use: Combine water and honey and stir until the honey is thin to create a uniform mixture. Puree cucumber along with honey-water mixture and lime juice in a blender or food processor until well combined. Strain the mixture through a fine meshed sieve and pour juice into popsicle or paleta molds. Freeze until solid. Take the pops out of the molds and enjoy them cooling off on a hot summer day.

Cautions: Health professionals recommend waiting until children are one year old before eating honey.

References:

1. New World Encyclopedia Website, Cucumber, accessed on April 22, 2019: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cucumber

2. Microscopy UK Website, A Close-up View of the “Wild Cucumber”, accessed on May 1, 2019: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artoct06/bj-Cucumber.html

3. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Website, Marah gilensis, accessed on May 1, 2019: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MAGI

4. Merriam-Webster Website, Pepo, accessed on April 22, 2019: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pepo

5. USDA Website, Cucumber, accessed on April 22, 2019: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168409/nutrients

6. Wikipedia, List of Cucumber Varieties, accessed on April 22, 2019: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cucumber_varieties

7. Rupp, R. (2011), How Carrots Won the Trojan War: Curious (but True) Stories of Common Vegetables, Massachusetts, Versa Press, pp. 136-147.

8. Gerad, J. (1636), Generall Historie of Plantes, accessed on April 22, 2019 from https://archive.org/details/herballorgeneral00gera/page/n1

9. Wood, W. (1639), New England’s Prospect, pp. 64 accessed on April 22, 2019 from: https://archive.org/details/woodsnewengland00woodgoog/page/n63

10. University of Oxford Text Archive Website, Maison rustique, or The Countrey Farme. P. 190 accessed on April 22, 2019: http://downloads.it.ox.ac.uk/ota-public/tcp/Texts-HTML/free/A00/A00419.html

11. The Diary of Samuel Pepys website, Saturday 22 August 1663, accessed on April 22, 2019 from: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/08/22/

12. King James Bible Online Website, Letter of Jeremiah Chapter 1, accessed on April 22, 2019: https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Letter-of-Jeremiah-Chapter-1/

13. Mukherjee, P. et. al. (2013), Phytochemical and therapeutic potential of cucumber, Fitorapia, Jan:84, 227-36.

14. Austin, D. (2010), Baboquivari Moutain Plants: Identification, Ecology, and Ethnobotany, Arizona, Univ. of Arizona Press, p.125.

15. Tripathi, D. et al. (2017). Silicon bioavailability in exocarp of Cucumis sativus Linn. Biotech, 7(6).

16. Ayurhelp website, Ayurveda Health benefits of cucumber, accesed April 22, 2019 from: https://www.ayurhelp.com/articles/ayurveda-health-benefits-cucumber/

17.  Stillpoint Aromatics website, Cucumber Organic Hydrosol, accessed April 22, 2019 from: https://www.stillpointaromatics.com/organic-cucumber-hydrosol-aromatherapy

18. Harman, A, (2015). Harvest to Hydrosol, Washington USA, botANNicals

19. Kreydin, A. (2017), Aromatic Waters: Therapeutic, Cosmetic, and Culinary Hydrosol Uses, Texas, The Barefoot Dragonfly.

About Tricia Ambroziak:

Patricia (Tricia) Ambroziak is a certified aromatherapist, writer, educator, biologist, and tutor, as well as a wife of 26 years and mom of two amazing teens. She enjoys exploring the wonder and power of plants, herbs, hydrosols, and essential oils and their role in supporting wellness. She is the owner of Aromatherapy by Tricia Ambroziak, which specializes in custom aromatherapy and cosmetic chemistry for individuals and businesses. Tricia has worked as an educator at Elon University, Drew College Preparatory High School and Great Oak High School and as a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, The Gladstone Institute, and Genentech. She is also a former martial arts instructor and a 3rd degree black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do and enjoys staying active with everything from running and bag boxing to yoga and TRX training. To learn more about Tricia visit her website at: www.aromatherapybytriciaambroziak.com