Fresh Ingredients

Cucumber

Cucumber is about 95% water, and its cool, green smell carries into a drink through thin slices, long ribbons or juice pressed out in the shaker. It turns up mostly in our gin drinks: pressed in the Eastside and the Eastern Standard, set against the glass as a ribbon in the English Garden. In our bar, whole and chilled it lasts about a week; cut, a day.

Quick Facts

Legal categoryFood

OriginGrown worldwide; long, thin-skinned greenhouse types are the usual British shop cucumber

Flavour Strengthlight

Our keeping timeWhole: about a week refrigerated. Cut: a day.

Storage

Whole and refrigerated; cut cucumber weeps and fades within a day.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens.

The ingredient

About Cucumber

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

Green freshnessMelon coolnessWater

Tasting Notes

Cool, green and faintly sweet, with a hint of melon; the skin adds colour and a light bitterness.

Cucumber is 95% water, and the juice carries its smell

A raw cucumber is about 95% water. Pressed in a shaker it gives up juice, and that juice is the flavour: cool, green, a little like melon. The usual British shop cucumber is the long, thin-skinned type grown under glass, which is sweeter, nearly seedless and easy to slice or peel into ribbons.

Slices are pressed, ribbons dress the glass

Slices go in the shaker when the drink needs the juice, and how hard to press them depends on the recipe. The Eastern Standard muddles three slices hard with the syrup, the Irish Maid presses four firmly, and the Eastside presses three gently before the mint goes in. All three then shake and double strain, so the pulp stays in the tin.

A ribbon, cut the length of the cucumber with a Y-peeler, lines the glass wall in the English Garden, held there by the ice. Thin rounds go in with the ice in a Pimm's Cup.

Four ways cucumber goes into a drink

Pressed slices

How it is cut: Thin rounds
What it does: Juice and flavour through the drink; strained out
In our recipes: Eastside, Eastern Standard, Irish Maid

Ribbon

How it is cut: One long stroke of a Y-peeler
What it does: Aroma and looks; held against the glass by the ice
In our recipes: English Garden, cucumber gin and tonics

Rounds in the glass

How it is cut: Thin slices
What it does: Slow flavour as the drink sits
In our recipes: Pimm's Cup

Rim rub

How it is cut: One slice, rubbed round the rim
What it does: Smell at the lip, then dropped in
In our recipes: Eastern Standard

Form	How it is cut	What it does	In our recipes
Pressed slices	Thin rounds	Juice and flavour through the drink; strained out	Eastside, Eastern Standard, Irish Maid
Ribbon	One long stroke of a Y-peeler	Aroma and looks; held against the glass by the ice	English Garden, cucumber gin and tonics
Rounds in the glass	Thin slices	Slow flavour as the drink sits	Pimm's Cup
Rim rub	One slice, rubbed round the rim	Smell at the lip, then dropped in	Eastern Standard

Bitterness gathers near the stalk and under the skin

Occasional bitterness comes from cucurbitacins, compounds the plant makes more of under stress such as heat or drought. They build up near the stalk and in the layer under the skin. Taste a slice from the stalk end before building; if it is bitter, trim that end and peel the rest.

Peeling is a choice, not a rule. Skin on, the drink is greener and slightly bitter; peeled, it is paler and cleaner. Our recipes use both.

Whole for a week, cut for a day

In our experience a whole cucumber lasts about a week chilled, loosely wrapped. Once cut, the faces weep water and the smell fades, so slice and peel to order and use what you cut the same day.

Using it

Using Cucumber

Usage

Pressed slices, three or four of them, for a sour such as the Eastside, then double strained; a long ribbon set inside the glass wall for a highball such as the English Garden; thin rounds built in with the ice for a Pimm's Cup.

Pro Tip

Press the cucumber before the mint goes in, as the Eastside and the Eastern Standard both do. The fruit takes as much pressure as the recipe asks; the mint, added after, gets its light press and stays whole.

Top Tips

Cut it to order. Cut cucumber weeps and loses its smell within the day.
Taste the stem end before you use it. Bitterness collects there and just under the skin, and one bitter slice carries through a drink.
Peel for a paler, cleaner drink; keep the skin for colour and a slight bitterness.
Run a Y-peeler the full length of the cucumber in one stroke for a ribbon that holds together.

Possible Substitutions

Melon at a sweeter angle
Celery for green freshness with more voice

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

Do you peel cucumber for cocktails?

It depends on the drink. The skin brings colour and a touch of bitterness, and the bitter compounds sit at the stalk end and just under it. Our Eastside leaves the peel on for colour; the Eastern Standard notes that peeled slices give a paler, cleaner drink. Both choices are sound.

How do you make a cucumber ribbon for a drink?

Run a Y-peeler down the full length of a washed cucumber in one stroke, taking a long, thin strip. Lay it round the inner wall of the glass, then add ice, which holds it in place. The first strip is mostly skin; the second and third show the pale flesh.

Should cucumber be muddled?

Pressed, at least, when the drink needs its juice. How hard depends on the recipe: the Eastern Standard muddles three slices hard with the syrup, the Irish Maid presses four firmly, and the Eastside presses three gently. Each then shakes and double strains, and the strainers keep the pulp in the tin.

Why is my cucumber bitter?

Cucurbitacins, natural compounds that the plant makes more of under stress such as heat or dry soil. They collect towards the stalk end and just beneath the skin. Cut a slice from that end and taste it before building; trimming it and peeling the rest removes most of the bitterness.

How do you add cucumber to a gin and tonic?

With long ribbons. Our cucumber and mint gin and tonic takes two, folded into a copa, with ice packed in to trap them against the sides; 50ml of gin goes in, then 150ml of cucumber tonic down the side. A long ribbon flavours more of the drink than a wheel would.

How long does cut cucumber keep?

About a day, wrapped and chilled, though it is freshest in the first hour or two. Cut faces weep water and lose their smell, so slice and peel ribbons to order. Whole, a cucumber lasts around a week chilled, loosely wrapped, in our experience.

What cocktails use cucumber?

Among ours: the Eastside and the Eastern Standard, gin sours with pressed cucumber and mint; the Irish Maid, with whiskey and elderflower; the English Garden and two gin and tonics, which carry a ribbon in the glass; and the Pimm's Cup, with slices built in among the ice.

Make something

Made with Cucumber

Featured In These Cocktails

Eastern Standard Eastside English Garden Cucumber & Mint Gin & Tonic Irish Maid Pimm’s Cup

Show all 7 cocktails

Cucumber & Elderflower G&T

Guide by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 18 October 2026

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