So... Should We All Be 'Milking' Our Cucumbers?

To exist on TikTok in the year 2024 AD is to know way too much about Logan’s cucumbers. 

The creator’s “cuke” salads have gone viral many times over; one salmon cream cheese recipe has racked up over 30 million views, while another Greek yoghurt and dill pickle concoction is teetering around the 20 million mark. 

But if, like Logan, you plan to snack on a whole cucumber, Dr Karan Rajan (known for sharing his medical knowledge on TikTok) has thoughts on whether or not you should “milk” it first.

What’s milk got to do with it? 

The doctor shared a video of another TikTok creator rubbing the exposed insides of two cucumber halves together to form a white foam. 

“Once this bitter foam comes out, your cucumber becomes less bitter,” the person whose video Dr Rajan was responding to said. 

And while that individual claims “It works,” Dr Rajan explained that there may be better ways to prep the veg. 

While cucumbers are over 95% water, the doctor explains, they also contain “a smattering of nutrients and plant chemicals, and one of these happens to be a bitter chemical called cucurbitacin.” 

Every gourd, from pumpkins to courgettes, contains this chemical; they work as a self-defence mechanism to stop animals from eating the veg. 

However, cucurbitacin is good for us as the compounds have “anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects,” the doctor says; it’s mostly held in the skin and ends of the cucumbers. 

Therefore “milking” cucumbers won’t do much, he states, as the flesh isn’t what holds most of the bitter taste.

What if I hate the flavour?

Peeling the skin or going for seedless and European cucumbers will likely give you a less bitter result, Dr. Rajan says.

However, ditching the skin means you’ll lose a lot of the veggie’s nutritional benefits. 

Another approach is the classic exposure therapy option. “The more you eat vegetables and bitter compounds, the more your tastebuds will actually adapt and dare I say even begin to enjoy eating vegetables,” the doctor points out. 

As it happens, if you’re looking for recipes that use an awful lot of the green stuff, I know a guy...