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[title]Strawberries and cream. Fish and chips. Buckets and spades. Wasps and picnics. Hendrick’s Gin and cucumber. Of all the iconic British summer pairings, a cool glass of Hendrick’s and tonic with three slices of cucumber is up there with our favourites. This year, Hendrick’s – maker of delightfully unusual gin infused with rose and cucumber – is on a mission to encourage the nation to grow their own cukes.
Why, you ask? Well, the folks at Hendrick’s believe that it’s high time we celebrate the noble cuke for its freshness and flavour. There’s no better way to properly appreciate the cucumis sativus than to cultivate your very own from seed.
Hendrick’s has always held the cucumber in the highest regard. It began in 1999, when master distiller Lesley Gracie crafted a new and highly unusual gin inspired by the quintessentially English scene of rose gardens and cucumber sandwiches. Today, she follows more or less the same recipe, crafting Hendrick's Gin in small batches at the distillery in the tiny seaside village of Girvan in south-west Scotland. We interviewed the master distiller to find out just what the cucumber brings to the recipe: ‘The cucumber ties in with the green fresh character that we get from the botanicals, like the yarrow, which has nice fresh green elements. The cucumber just enhances that. And when you put your three slices of cucumber into your gin and tonic, it lifts the whole thing and makes it so fresh. Cucumber isn’t too overpowering, like lemon; you get the refreshing element but it’s not too much. As soon as you put your cucumber into your Hendrick’s and tonic, you get that amazing aroma!
‘The flavour is so much more intense and fresh when you grow it in your own garden,’ continues Gracie. 'If you’ve had a cucumber that’s been on a shelf, it could’ve been picked a week beforehand. And it’s that appreciation of what you can do for yourself, too.'
Growing your own cucumber isn’t as difficult as you might imagine. The Cucumber Growers Association has kindly shared some tips on giving your cukes the best possible start in life. Here’s what they said:
1. Fill a small pot or jam jar with fresh potting mix and make a dip in the soil about 2cms deep. Place 1-2 seeds per pot and water well.
2. Put your cucumbers in a warm sunny spot in the early days – we suggest using a clear plastic lid (or cling film) over the pot, as cucumber seedlings love humidity.
3. Once the seedlings appear, remove the smallest shoot to leave one seedling per pot. Re-pot the leaves into a larger space once they start to grow. Keep them regularly watered so the soil is never dry and feed them with plant feed very few weeks.
4. You can train your cucumber vibes up a trellis, bamboo or along a piece of string.
5. Harvest cucumbers whilst they are still small and tender for best taste.