Cucumbers, or more specifically Painted Serpents, are one of the main summer vegetables we grow at Terra Firma — as I’m sure you are aware. They produce all summer long, and we harvest them several times a week. Natives of the Middle East, they are perfectly adapted to our hot, dry summers.
It may appear that Cucumbers are not a super versatile culinarily. Unlike most of the veggies we grow, you don’t really want to cook them. And they don’t have a ton of flavor. But they have other strengths. They are crunchy but not too crunchy. They are cool and refreshing. And they absorb and release other flavors nicely.
For these reasons, Cukes are rarely the star of the dishes they are used in. Instead, they serve as the background singers, harmonizing with more assertive flavors like salt, acid, umami and spice. One of the go-to uses for cucumbers in our kitchen is Greek Salad. We make a hearty version with lots of mild Bulgarian feta, red onion marinated in red wine vinegar, kalamata olives and tomatoes. For that salad, I slice the cucumbers in very thin but long slices so they can soak up the flavors. (See Recipe below).
Cukes also make great accompaniments. Most of the taco trucks in our area offer them alongside sliced limes as a taco topping. Poke bowls almost always feature a spray of matchstick-sized cukes to mix into the rice and raw fish. Then there are the marinated or brined uses that your likely familiar with: simple fresh pickles are easy and fast to make.
But by far, most of the Cukes eaten in our house are not used in recipes at all. Rather, my wife Marisa eats them as a snack instead of a less-healthy option like chips or crackers. She slices them in rounds and tops them with cheese. Or cuts them into sticks and dips them into hummus, salsa, or yogurt.
We’re roughly half-way through our Cucumber season here, so you can expect to see a “snake” or two in your box on a regular basis through the end of August. I hope this newsletter has served as inspiration for those of you who might be puzzled by what to do with the abundance. For those subscribers like my wife, you’re probably just thinking “DUH!”.
Thanks,