A Trio of Summertime Cucumber Salads
Available year-round now, these delicious and versatile arrivals in the vegetable garden used to signify the ascent of summer.
Although they're available year round, at least in these parts, cucumbers seem to represent the arrival of summer perhaps because they originated in the steamy regions of South Asia, India and Thailand and later to the warm Mediterranean basin. In England and later in the US, cucumbers were a staple of household summertime vegetable gardens. In the US today, they are grown in hot houses - hence their year round availability. But backyard gardens here and there will still celebrate the arrival of summer with a basket or two of these members of the Cucurbitaceae family, a fruit-bearing plant that include melons, squash and pumpkins. Yes, technically the cucumber is a fruit, but they are eaten as vegetables and an essential ingredient of any garden salad.
I thought that since today is the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere and the astronomical arrival of summer, it would be a good day to post three cucumber recipes I've made over the years. This is further to another cucumber side dish, Kitchen Tapestry’s recipe, Korean Style Short Rib Tacos with Cucumber Slaw.
As a brief tutorial on the fruit itself:
Cucumbers are divvied up into three basic categories although there are well over a hundred varieties of cucumbers on the planet. These categories are: Pickling, Slicing and English.
Pickling Cucumbers are self-evident by their very name. They are short, thick with bumpy skins. The best known variety is the Gherkin.
Slicing Cucumbers is the category in which most varieties fall. They are what Americans know as the basic garden-variety cucumber, with a thick waxy skin that is slightly bitter, and so most people peel them before eating. The wax is man-made and applied after harvesting, but it mimics a natural wax the plant itself produces to protect itself while growing. While any fruit or vegetable should be washed before eating, the wax is harmless and edible. The most common varieties of supermarket-available cucumbers are Fanfare and Diva.
The English Cucumber, also known as the European Cucumber or seedless cucumber, originated in Europe. It is believed to have been developed from wild cucumbers native to the Mediterranean region. These cucumbers are typically longer and thinner than traditional cucumbers, with a smoother skin and fewer seeds. Their skins are thinner, though less bitter therefore English Cucumbers are usually served unpeeled. They produce no natural wax like Slicing Cucumbers and so they are frequently tightly wrapped in plastic when brought to market.
Here are three delicious summertime cucumber recipes:
