Cool as a cucumber: TikTok trend lifts cucumber sales 

Oh my gourd! How hard is it to buy a cucumber at the moment?!

If you’ve found yourself in a pickle trying to get your hands on a cucumber lately, you wouldn’t be alone.  

The empty shelves bring to mind a certain recent pandemic; but the real reason is a different type of virality.  

A popular TikTok recipe has caused cucumber sales to grow exponentially around the world; and Australia is no exception.  

Food blogger Logan Moffitt’s cucumber-themed TikTok account has amassed hundreds of millions of views (@logagm).  

Young Aussies have been especially invested in trying out Logan’s cucumber salad.

And while Zoomers have been busy crushing garlic, the bean counters at Rabobank have crushed some sales data.  

Check out the curiously continentally-shaped increase in cucumber sales among ‘young transitionals’ (Gen Zs) in the graph below, courtesy of Pia Piggot at RaboResearch. 

Logan’s signature cucumber salad recipe is a mix of sliced cucumber, soy sauce, garlic and sesame seeds.

I am a food blog has put the video recipe into traditional written format. We’ve included their recipe below, or you can check out the full blog post here.  

“TikTok Cucumber Guy Recipe” 

As seen on “I am a food blog” 

Ingredients 

• 1 cucumber sliced 

• 1.5 tbsp soy sauce 

• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil 

• 1 tsp fish sauce 

• 1 tsp sugar 

• MSG 

• 1 clove garlic grated 

• 2 green onions sliced 

• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds 

Instructions 

1. Use a mandolin to directly slice the cucumber into a container. Alternatively, use a knife to thinly slice a cucumber and place it in a bowl. 

2. Add the soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, fish sauce, sugar, MSG, garlic, green onions, and toasted sesame seeds to the container (or bowl). 

3. Place the lid on the container and shake until the cucumber slices are coated evenly with all the ingredients. If your cucumbers are in a bowl, toss well. 

4. Enjoy immediately, or place in the fridge and marinate for a couple of hours then enjoy. The cucumbers will be crunchier the faster you eat the salad, so if you want a fresh cucumber salad, enjoy immediately. If you want more of a quick pickled cucumber salad, let marinate for 1-2 hours before enjoying. 

Thanks to “I am a food blog” for this recipe.