The Ultimate Guide to Cucumbers - America’s Test Kitchen

There's nothing more refreshing than a crisp cucumber on a hot summer day. And the reason why cucumbers are so great in the summertime is they're 96% water. Nothing more water than that when it comes to the vegetable world. So there are some choices at the supermarket, and we're going to start with the most common, which is the American or the slicing cucumber. There are two things to note here. One is there are a lot of seeds. You're going to need to get rid of those, so you're going to have a lot of waste. More importantly, these are almost always waxed. That increases their shelf life, but it means you've got to peel that skin. You do not want to be eating that wax. Next up, we have the English or the European or the hothouse cucumber. Now, the big thing here is they're called seedless, but they're actually kind of immature seeds. But you don't need to remove these because they don't really distract from the eating pleasure of the cucumber. Now, these are almost always shrink-wrapped. That shrink-wrapping is doing the same thing as the wax coating. It's protecting them, but it allows you, once you remove the shrink-wrapping, you don't need to peel these cucumbers. And I kind of like the peel on the cucumber, in addition to the fact that I don't like wasting so much, so I really kind of prefer the English cucumbers. But maybe my favorite here on the table are these little Persian cucumbers. They're sometimes called mini cucumbers. These are my favorite for crudités. I love them with hummus. They have a, like, delicate melony flavor. And again, these seeds, I think, are so small, you don't need to get rid of them. And then last up, if you're a gardener like me, you want to do a lot of pickling in the summer, and the kirby cucumber is the best choice for this. Now, you can also slice this up. It's great in salads. But if you really want a cucumber that's going to have that snap when you make a pickle, look for a kirby. So next time you've got a hot summer day, remember, cucumber, they're our friends. For full episodes of your favorite cooking shows, head over to ATK's full episodes channel on YouTube. You can stream complete seasons of America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, and more. See you there!