Why It's Actually A Major Mistake To Peel Cucumbers

If the TikTok trend is to be believed, sometimes you just need to eat a whole cucumber. And yes, there are dozens of ways to prepare it: in a sesame-loaded cucumber salad, shredded with imitation crab and mayonnaise in kani, or tossed with yogurt, lemon, and dill for a chunky, tzatziki-inspired dish, among many other options. And depending on the recipe you follow, you may be instructed to peel off the cucumber's outer layer of dark green skin. However, this could be a grave mistake in your preparation.

Okay, it's not really that serious, but don't make a mistake about the skin of a cucumber: It holds a lot of the fruit's nutritional content (and that's right, a cucumber is a fruit). Some people find the skin of cucumbers to be unpleasantly tough; it contains bitter-tasting compounds called cucurbitacins, which act as a natural defense mechanism against animals that might want to eat them. But unless you are particularly sensitive to these compounds (or if you eat cucumber skin in extremely high amounts, which can be toxic), you should keep the skin on for its abundant health benefits.

Many fruits and vegetables hold a lot of their vitamins and minerals in their skins, and cucumbers are no exception. Cucumbers have long been a popular diet food because of their crisp interior, high moisture content, and low caloric content (compared to their volume), all of which essentially render them as water you can bite into.

While very hydrating, the flesh of a cucumber actually offers little in terms of nutritional value. The skin, however, contain loads of good stuff: fiber that helps you feel full and aids digestion; vitamin K, which is necessary for blood clotting and bone health; vitamin C for skin health; the powerful antioxidant beta-carotene.  and magnesium, which can alleviate issues of everything from anxiety and migraines to high blood pressure and more. That's a lot of nutritional value to be throwing away!

Some people aren't as swayed by the nutritional value of skins — even Gordon Ramsay opts to peel his cucumbers, but you can really get all of what you pay for by keeping the skins on your cucumbers.