cucumber
Nutrition
Cucumbers are a great source of vitamin K which is essential for blood clotting which is essential to wound healing when we hurt ourselves.
Shopping Guide
Pick the ones that are firm to touch and have a darker green colour for optimal crunch and freshness.
Storage
Keep in the fridge for up to a week, slice or chop just before eating. If you’ve got some cut cucumber leftover, wrap in some damp kitchen roll and use within a couple of days.
Serving suggestions
Cucumbers are great raw and perfect in a salad. Try slicing cucumber and spring onions and add a dressing. You could have a go at making your own pickles by simmering equal parts water and vinegar (white vinegar or apple cider works best), a couple of tablespoons of salt, a pinch of sugar. Simmer for 10 mins, then pour over a jar filled with sliced cucumber, tightly seal the lid and leave to cool on the counter before keeping in the fridge – it will pickle and soften more over time.
Seasonality
Buying veg in season is not only great for the planet, it can be good for your wallet, too! Seasonal veg are often cheaper and frequently taste better, so can be a better time to try with a child as the often sweeter, riper taste is more enjoyable.
Coming In:
April
At Its Best:
May - October
Engage
Here are some of our favourite ways to engage kids with cucumber:
Arts & Crafts
Start simple with some non-food based engagement. This is especially helpful for a fussier child or those with sensitivities around food.
For cucumber, why not try “rubbing” the skin like you would with tree bark? Grab a piece of paper and wrap around the cucumber, then use crayons or colouring pencils to scribble gently over the paper until the cucumber skin pattern shows through?
Sensory
Sensory exploration can be a wonderful introduction to physically interacting with veg. Turn it into a positive, pressure-free experience by starting off with the golden rules of “You don’t need to try and you don’t need to like.” Reassuring a child that, while they have a chance to taste a veg, they don’t have to, and are not expected to like it if they do, can make them more happy to engage with it.
Why not explore sound and hearing with cucumbers? Get a few cucumber sticks – some with skin and the soft middle cut out so they are “crunchier” and some without skin that are “softer”, and a few slices that might be a mix of both. Crunch them with your child and ask them to describe the level of noise (adding earphones to this can be a great way to amplify the sound). If they aren’t comfortable putting the cucumber in their mouth, they can snap them by their ear and describe what they hear.
Kids in the kitchen
Children who help to prep and cook veg are more likely to eat it. If you feel your child is ready to help and could benefit from it, keep the stress and mess to a minimum by choosing one simple task for them to do as part of the prep, meaning they can be involved and feel like the recipe is in part ‘theirs’, but also not make the process too much longer or more complicated.
For a younger child, why not get them grating some cucumber with your help, and maybe mixing it into some yogurt with a pinch of salt or a little crumbled feta to make a simple tzatziki dip.
For an older child, it could be a great opportunity to teach some knife skills by slicing the cucumber lengthways using the bridge grip.
DOWNLOADS:
Use our Kitchen Ninja chart and videos to find simple ways for kids to help in the kitchen.
Your Food
Find your go-to meals in our family favourites section and see what veggies work best with them.
Find out how to add more veg to your suppers here.
Recipes
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it!
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it!
The first thing to do is remove the pressure. If the veg doesn’t get eaten, it’s not the end of the world. There will be other days, other dinners, other chances. Fun is key here – try not to worry about mess, perfect table manners, or playing with food. Instead, focus on making the process of getting the food to the plates, readying the table, and the actual eating relaxed.
The best principles for success here are the Three Rs (role modelling, rewarding, re-offering) which you can read about here.
But there is one more way you can serve for success, and that is giving your child a role. You don’t have to do this every time, just encourage them in their strengths through it when you can.
Here are some of our favourite ideas:
Design a menu
Come up with a silly name or story for a dish
Help with making a meal plan and choosing veg for dinners or snacks
Help to serve up the meal on dishes, lay the table or create a centrepiece to be involved in the physical ‘serving up’ process.
The Wonderful World of Veg
Check out our vegepedia. When to buy in-season. How to store them to keep for longer. How to engage children with each veg, and simple ideas of how to prepare and cook them for maximum taste and minimum waste. Select a veg…