Eating with the Peel

The cucumber is a well-known and basic vegetable in our hot country. It belongs to the gourd family (along with various pumpkins, squashes, and zucchinis) and enjoys a warm climate, so it grows happily in the summer.

In Chinese medicine, the cucumber is considered a cooling vegetable that helps cleanse the body of toxins, increases urination, and quenches thirst. It is also regarded as a sweet vegetable, assisting organs responsible for digestion and the absorption of food and fluids in the body. It is very rich in water (of good quality since plants purify the water themselves), contains calcium and potassium, as well as beta carotene, vitamin C, and a bit of vitamin B.

Many people tend to peel cucumbers, but there is really no need. In general, it's advisable to eat fruits and vegetables with the peel whenever possible, as it adds dietary fiber to the food, slows down the release of sugar into the bloodstream (which is crucial for those with sugar issues like diabetes, candida and yeast, sugar addictions, etc.), and also protects the vitamins located right next to the peel—especially the antioxidant vitamins. Most people who peel fruits and vegetables do so because of pesticides; we live in a much more sophisticated time where the pesticides come directly through the irrigation water.

You can eat a cucumber as it is, whole, as part of a meal, and even as a snack between meals. You can dip cucumber strips in tahini, hummus, pesto, cheese, and various dips. You can give it to children as a snack or instead of a drink (it contains a lot of water), it can be included in salads, sauces, cold soups based on yogurt, and it can also be pickled.