My grandson with his first cucumber crop.
My most favorite use for cucumbers is skinned and thrown in a blender with limeade frozen concentrate substituting mint tea for the required water ~ optional alcohol of your choice. When I worked at a local garden center I noticed older men would come in looking for burpless cucumber plants. If we were out, then they would leave. Seemed odd to my mind as a cucumber was a cucumber. Turns out cucumbers are fart inducing friends and miraculously burpless has engineered that out ~ apparently for older men this is a line they chose not to cross. It is clearly not by chance that many cucumber dishes include fart counter acting herbs such as dill, mint and cumin. So what else can we make with this farty produce? Create little cucumber shot glasses by cutting the cucumber into 2 inch diagonal slices and using a melon baller to create a bowl. Fill the little bowls with alcohol shots or dip (cream cheese mixed with herbs or tuna fish salad). What is a tea party without cucumber cream cheese and dill open face sandwiches? East Indian raiti mixes yogurt and cumin with chopped cucumber, tomatoes, onion and green chillies to provide a cooling balance to spicy food. In the Middle East a very similar dish, salad shirazi, combines cucumber, tomatoes, mint, garlic and lime juice. In the same region cucumber is also used in tzatziki sauce made chopped cucumber, yogurt, garlic and dill or mint. Midwesterners love their cucumber sliced with tomatoes, onions, vinegar and dill. Romnie Bivin has happy memories of her dad’s cucumber, tomato and red onion salad. Janet Lindsteadt suggested cucumbers with sour cream and onions. Kim Hachiya shared a wonderful cucumber avocado soup recipe (the recipe is in the photos). Mary Ayer slices cucumber, green pepper, onion, tomatoes and serves them with a tarragon dressing. The simplest of all is to slice cucumbers and add them to a pitcher of water. How do you eat cucumbers?
- Jill Kuhel
