Cocktails with Cucumber
Cucumber is a fresh, juicy fruit with a mild, cooling flavor, used as sliced flesh and as juice, and one of the most-used fresh ingredients on this site.
Substitutes for Cucumber
Reach for honeydew melon in the same amount for the water and the cool sweetness, with a couple of mint leaves for the green smell; expect it sweeter. What it gives is water, coolness and a green smell, and the water is the part nothing bottled brings back. A green herb covers the smell, a melon of the same family covers the water, and neither covers both.
Often confused with
Pickled cucumber
Brined or vinegared, so it brings acid and salt where fresh brings water and green, and in a savory drink it is an ingredient in its own right, not a substitute.
Cucumber-flavored products
Syrups, cordials and bottled juices, most of which taste of melon rind and sugar; a drink that named fresh cucumber wanted the water and the crunch as well as the flavor.
Storage
Refrigerated, whole, and used within a few days. Once cut it turns slimy at the face within a day, so cut what you need. Choose one firm end to end, since a soft spot means the inside has already gone.
