I have made a note not to plant so many cucumber plants next year, we have far too many. Have made pickles, given them away and was on the look out for recipes. We tried cucumber soup today and to say it was awful was an understatement, it proved to be a waste of a good onion and spud and even I, who tends to eat anything, found it inedible. Any ideas? :BangHead: :BangHead: :BangHead:
They put cucumbers with yoghurt and other herbs and spices and serve it with more or less everything in Turkey particularly kebabs. Need to be fresh or the cucumber goes soggy.
http://turkishfood.about.com/od/CheeseYogurtDairy/r/Turkish-Yogurt-With-Cucumbers-And-Herbs-Is-Called-cacik.htm
Lots of cucumber recipes here
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/healthy_cucumber_recipes
Cucumber and walnut loaf. Same as courgette and walnut loaf, just swap the ingredients.
Cant help with recipes but just wanted to say I wish I had a glut of something! Usually I have given away lots of stuff by now but we only have courgettes and french beans cropping (although loads of fruit) - and just enough for us (although planted 5 courgette plants!). Hoping it all might just come late this year but have never been in this position before.
Just jealous!
I find that cucumber is my Achilles heel and my plants die on me every year once they reach three to four feet high just as the fruit sets. ????????????
.....and it has happened again this year!
Just as well I don't like them, but that is selfish as my grandaughter eats them like a banana.
I don't know why I bother!!!!!
Cooked cucumber soup sounds like it would be weird! But you can lose a whole cucumber making a batch of cold gazpacho soup if you blend it up with some tomatoes, onion and garlic ... delicious! Also you can make that kind of indian side-salad you get in with a curry at an Indian restaurant if you slice up a cucumber, mix with a sliced onion and sprinkle with salt then season with chopped mint, coriander and lemon juice ... it goes down very well in this house and makes a change from just plain cucumbers.
I love tzatziki! The secret is to get proper thick Greek yogurt (or strain the ordinary stuff to thicken) and to salt the cucumber once you've grated it. Let the salty cuke sit for an hour and then you'll be able to squeeze loads of water out of it. Runny tzatziki isn't as nice.
It's just cuke, yogurt, a little crushed garlic, lemon juice, and dill (although dried mint is also great instead of dill), with some extra virgin olive oil on top. I could eat bowls and bowls of it! Delicious with barbecued/grilled meats or just with veggies and pittas to dip in. I've been known to put it on a cheese sandwich too. ;)
Quote from: Tee Gee on August 06, 2015, 18:26:56
I find that cucumber is my Achilles heel and my plants die on me every year once they reach three to four feet high just as the fruit sets. ????????????
.....and it has happened again this year!
Just as well I don't like them, but that is selfish as my grandaughter eats them like a banana.
I don't know why I bother!!!!!
Amazed to hear there is something you have problems growing! I can't grow melons, but cucumbers do well in my home greenhouse. I grow them install pots set in a shallow tray of water, and only water them in the tray. I'm actually trying one melon plant like this this year, I refuse to be beaten!
I am also amazed there is something you cannot grow TG. I have a plot neighbour who always had fantastic cucumbers and melons, not sure how she did it.
I have crystal lemon this year and they are so far going well, just started to flower. But my daughter thinks cucumbers should be straight and green and covered in plastic. I have not managed to grow them that way, they tend to be warty and prickly and obviously miss the plastic coating.
I sometimes think you cannot grow things you do not like. I do not like onions and they never do well for me, while others on site have fantastic ones. Suggest you get the cucumber eating granddaughter to sow the seeds and plant them out I bet they will take off.
Try treating them like courgettes. Fry or steam them - that's a common way of cooking them in Chinese cuisine.
I must admit that I have a cucumber glut this year the varieties are socrates and louisa the louisa are long and spiny and sometimes curly I have read somewhere that it is due to not being trained properly but the socrates are about 6 ins long and they can be quite chunky so will only grow them next year
Tzatziki/Raita is the answer - we make aubergine/pumpkinlet fritters (courgette ones are nearly as nice) and we end up getting through about equal amounts of cucumber in the tzatziki.
Also - try picking them half size to eat as a snack - more concentrated flavour.
The total cure for dying off is to graft onto malabar gourd in spring (sharkfin melon, C. ficifolia) but I didn't need to this year.
Cheers.
I have to say that this year is the mostest for so many things - Apples, Figs, Cus, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Raspberries.........
But you have to have more than one Cu plant if you want enough at one time to - e.g. - pickle.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/photo04/veg/DSCN3246_zpsfe3e5492.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/photo04/media/veg/DSCN3246_zpsfe3e5492.jpg.html)
Tim
Loads of recipes for cucumber on the BBC Good Food site. I like it juiced, in gazpacho and other cold soups and have made a very tasty and refreshing cucumber sorbet.
These days I limit us to one plant so no gluts but OH retires at the end of this year so I may grow 2 next year for all the extra salad lunches.
I start out with a lot of plants as they can be difficult to get started, then gradually reduce the number growing till I get sufficient but not a glut. I plant lettuce in the spaces where the cucumbers have been removed.
I only grow outdoor cucumbers as indoors in a greenhouse is just asking for gluts. I find they grow really well if kept under plastic cloches. This also stops the deer eating the leaves - a real problem here.