Are cucumbers healthy? How do you keep cucumbers fresh? What goes well with fresh cucumbers? Is there REALLY that much water in cucumbers? We’re sharing all our cucumber knowledge with you so you can learn how to enjoy this refreshing and healthy veggie.

Kid enjoying uno bites in kitchen

If you think all cucumbers are the same, think again! There are so many different types of cucumbers to discover & enjoy; some are great in salads, while others are quick and healthy snacks that young children love! Let’s explore all the different cucumber varieties you can find at the supermarket.

You might already be familiar with the traditional Long English Cucumber; a seedless cucumber that is long and slimmer than your run-of-the-mill field cucumber. These are often called burpless cucumbers because they don’t contain the seeds and thick skin that make field cucumbers bitter.

Long English Cucumbers are best enjoyed in a variety of salads that need a juicy boost of fresh flavor. These are the ideal cucumber for spiralizing, like in this Cucumber Noodle Salad. They are much more than a salad ingredient: you can use them to make Vegetarian Rice Wraps or even Cucumber Chickpea Mini Pizzas – a true party pleaser!

Because Long English Cucumbers have very thin and delicate skin that gives them a nice mild flavor, this type of cucumber is best grown in a controlled greenhouse environment.

At Pure Flavor®, our dedicated family of growers is able to grow the best cucumbers every day of the year with the help of advanced growing technology.

How are the best greenhouse cucumbers grown? To grow cucumbers, all you need is water, nutrients and light, but having complete control over each of those means the veggies grow quickly, consistently, and in a protected environment, or ‘Controlled Environment Agriculture’ (CEA).

Pure Flavor® greenhouses are state-of-the-art facilities that allow us to bring you the best fresh vegetables year-round using sustainable growing methods. Every cucumber plant is grown in recycled growing mediums like coconut fibre or rockwool. A small drip hose is inserted into each growing medium so we can deliver the exact amount of fresh water & nutrients directly to the plant’s root system.

This sophisticated closed-loop irrigation system can be controlled with a few clicks or touches on a smartphone. The same goes for the climate & supplemental lighting, which are all optimized to help us grow cucumbers sustainably.

Thanks to all this technology, wielded by a trained team of experts, most types of cucumbers grow in about 50 to 70 days from planting to picking cucumbers.

Did You Know?

  • Cucumber plants can grow up to 40%
  • Cucumbers contain more than 95% water
  • Cucumbers first appeared in ancient India and then spread to China, Europe, Greece and Italy. Cucumbers are now one of America’s top five garden vegetables according to the University of Missouri!
Grilling veggies, uno bites pack

Some cucumbers don’t take quite as long to grow depending on their type. The smallest cucumbers, Uno Bites™ Nano Cucumbers, only take 10-12 days to grow in the proper greenhouse environment!

If you’re looking for the best snacking cucumbers, you should definitely add Uno Bites™ to your shopping list. These itty-bitty nano size cucumbers are a great example of healthy veggies that kids love.

Satisfy every snack attack – these cucumbers bring the crunch with every bite! They’re the perfect one-bite cucumber variety for kids of all ages who can hydrate by the handful while enjoying their mild, crisp flavor. Uno Bites™ are out of this world nano cucumbers that are changing the way kids (and adults!) snack.

Of course, Uno Bites™ aren’t only for snacking – they are also perfect for quickly adding refreshing flavor to salads, appetizers, and other tasty recipes like Teriyaki Chicken Salad, Sushi Sandwiches, or Mediterranean Orzo Salad.

If you like to pickle your onw cucumbers at home, these small and crunchy cucumbers are great for making homemade pickles. You can even use them to make simple and delicious Quickles – refrigerator pickled cucumbers that only take 25 minutes to make.

Teriyaki Chicken in serving plate

Another favorite snacking cucumber are Poco Bites® Cocktail Cucumbers, which are slightly larger than Uno Bites™. The size of these tasty cukes and their refreshing juiciness are part of why people love to pair Poco Bites® with their favorite dips.

This small type of cucumber also tends to have a light sweetness that you can use to make sweet healthy snacks, like Cucumber Mint Sorbet, and hydrating smoothies or drinks. These sweet cucumbers pair well with other sweet ingredients like Georgia Peaches in Savory Cucumber and Peach Salad or watermelon in Cucumber Watermelon Salad.

Including snacking cucumbers like Uno Bites™ and Poco Bites® in your daily diet can help you to take advantage of all the health benefits of cucumbers.

All the types of cucumbers Pure Flavor® grows are a great source of hydration that can help you prepare for or recover from workouts and study sessions. Plus, they contain important minerals and nutrients we all need to be happy and healthy!

What are the health benefits of Cucumbers?

  • Iron: Cucumbers contain important minerals like Iron, which is very important in maintaining a healthy count of red blood cells.
  • Potassium: Cucumbers are high in potassium, an essential mineral that helps your heart and muscles work properly. A balanced diet with potassium from fresh, healthy vegetables like cucumbers can help regulate blood pressure.
  • Vitamin K: Cucumbers are a good source of Vitamin K, an essential nutrient needed for building strong bones and preventing fractures so that you can stay active.
Mini cucumbers in towel at the beach

Mini Cucumbers are a medium-sized (4.5” – 6.25) cucumber that can be used for everything from light snacking boards, to refreshing summer salads, to desserts and apps.

Many people consider these to be the most versatile cucumbers. They’re small enough to enjoy as on-the-go snacks, but large enough to slice, dice, or cut into long ribbons in fresh recipes. Mini Cucumbers are the best of both worlds!

The recipes you can make with these cucumbers span a whole world of flavor and include cuisine styles from around the world and every meal from breakfast to dinner! If you have Mini Cucumbers in your fridge and are wondering what these cucumbers are good for, look no further! You can use Mini Cucumbers in elegant vegetarian appetizers like Sweet Potato Cucumber Bites, a tasty Summer Roll in a Bowl, or a fresh Fattoush Salad.

Mini Cucumbers are also a favorite for making traditional homemade tzatziki sauce to use with gyros or as a dip. Megan Hutson, a mother of three, blended her Mini Cucumbers to make healthy, sweet and refreshing Creamsicles that her kids love on hot summer days.

How To Pick the Best Cucumbers

Grocery shopping

To pick cucumbers that will last a long time, look for signs that they were picked at peak ripeness with care and grown with precision: vibrant, consistent color and firm, smooth texture. Always look for cucumbers in convenient packs that will help them stay fresh for longer in the fridge. There should always be a logo in the corner that says “Greenhouse Grown” so you know they were grown in a safe, controlled environment.

These four different types of cucumbers offer all the fresh cucumber flavor you love in convenient sizes to suit your lifestyle. To learn more about which cucumbers are best for healthy kids’ snacks or salads, the nutrients in cucumbers, or how we grow cucumbers, click here.

To learn more about the many cucumber varieties we grow and how we grow them, click here or view our Twenty Cucumber Facts.

To explore the recipes you can create with cucumbers, click here.