SeasonSort Week of Sep 4 · updated Fri

Cucumbers

Peak season in the Midwest · up 31% this week

$0.81 /ea

This week

↑31%

Vs last week

Calories/serv

1 g

Protein/serv

Seasonality of cucumbers

This vegetable is at its local-harvest peak from May through September, and is generally in stores from April through November. This week it's peak season in the Midwest — buying it in season usually means better quality and, as the regional prices below show, a lower price.

Nutrition · per 100g serving

Calories

0.7 g

Protein

3.6 g

Carbs

0.1 g

Fat

0.5 g

Fiber

Per a typical 100g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Cucumber, with peel, raw).

Cheapest cucumbers this week, by region

Buying cucumbers in the Southcentral saves about 45% versus the Northwest this week.

Buying cucumbers

How to pick a good one: Firm end to end, with no soft spots near the tips, which is where they go first. The skin should be deep green and slightly bumpy rather than glossy and waxed, and a cucumber that feels heavy for its size has not dried out.
What a good price looks like: Field cucumbers sit between 60 cents and $1.25 each through the summer, and under 75 cents is a good buy. English cucumbers carry a premium of roughly a dollar for the wrapper and the thinner skin. If you are salting and draining anyway, the cheap field cucumber does the same job — pay the premium only when you are eating the skin raw.
What you actually get: A medium field cucumber is about 300 g and yields roughly 2 cups sliced, enough for four side salads. Peeling and seeding costs about a quarter of the weight. Salting and draining pulls out another two or three tablespoons of liquid, which is exactly the point.

Storing and cooking cucumbers

How to store it: Cucumbers are chill-sensitive and turn watery in the coldest part of the fridge. Keep them in the door or a crisper drawer, loosely wrapped, for about a week. Store them away from tomatoes, apples, and bananas, whose ethylene turns them yellow.
In the kitchen: Whether to peel depends on what you bought: the waxed coating on standard field cucumbers is unpleasant and worth removing, while thin-skinned English and Persian cucumbers need nothing. Seeds hold water, so for anything dressed, halve the cucumber lengthwise and drag a teaspoon down the middle. Salting sliced cucumber for twenty minutes and draining it is the one step that separates a crisp salad from a puddle.
Getting the most out of it: Salt sliced cucumber and let it drain for twenty minutes before dressing, or the salad waters down. When they are cheap, quick-pickle them in vinegar, salt, and sugar; they keep for weeks and rescue an otherwise plain sandwich.

Cook with Cucumbers · cheapest dishes first

See all 806 recipes with cucumbers →Filter by diet, time, budget, and macros.

Price from the USDA National Retail Report. Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.

Cucumbers — FAQ

When can you buy cucumbers in season?

This vegetable is at its local-harvest peak from May through September, and is generally in stores from April through November. This week the Midwest has cucumbers marked peak season.

What's the price of cucumbers right now?

As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of cucumbers in the Midwest is $0.81/ea, up 31% from last week. It's cheapest in the Southcentral at $0.54/ea.

How many calories and how much protein are in cucumbers?

A typical 100g serving of cucumbers has about 15 calories, 0.7g protein, 3.6g carbohydrates, 0.1g fat, and 0.5g fiber, per USDA FoodData Central.

What can I make with cucumbers?

SeasonSort indexes 806 recipes that use cucumbers, each with its cost per serving computed from this week's prices — starting from about $0.10 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.