Poor Cucumbers Deserve Some Respect

A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing .

Have you heard the phrase ‘cool as a cucumber’? Although cucumbers get added in your menus during the warm summer months when they are in season but they are also available year-round. It’s because they are rich in dietary fiber and have cold effect. It’s high water content gives it a very unique moist and cooling taste.Cucumbers are believed to be an ancient vegetable, originating in southern Asia around ten thousand years ago.

Have you ever imagined that cucumber is the vegetable which is used for so many variety of purposes in our daily life. This poor vegetable really deserves some respect . Why? You can find out below.

• It’s often relegated to the relish tray or salad bowl, or pickled and left to languish in the refrigerator. There are so many types of pickles made of cucumbers alone or with other vegetables. I find lots of varieties here in UAE. It’s sometimes pickled as a whole, sometimes sliced or diced in different shapes crying for help inside the enclosed chamber made of glass. It feels more offended when it sees the world around enjoying the freedom. What calms down is when it watches the other poor fellows of it’s species in the same situation.
• They are refreshing during sultry weather and can be more than an ingredient in salads. You see many types of salads with cucumbers. Sometimes peeled and mostly with skin on. I often have tried many salads at different restaurants and hotels as I love it. This miserable vegetable is sometimes tossed with olive oil, youghurt, cream or used for garnishing.

• Just ask the cooks around the world who use them in gazapacho, tzatziki and other dishes. I recently came to know that cucumbers are also cooked. Even when cooked – they can be delicious. It gets sauted in butter – cut into tiny footballs, yeah, footballs – and eaten as you would zucchini. A New York based, cook book author Julie sahni likes to cook cucumbers, with one caveat: ‘never overcook them.’ There is also cucumber juice that is considered very healthy and refreshing. You can find hundreds of recepies of cucumber juice on the web

Cucumbers come in dozens of varieties but are generally devided into two camps: slicers (smooth skin & large), and picklers (smaller in size & bumpier skin).

• Cucumbers are often used for skin remedies. People use them for removing eye wrinkles, dark circles under eyes, skin glow and smoothness, even for acne removal and blah blah blah. It’s mostly used in cosmetics to lighten,cool and moisturize the skin like in cleansers, lotions, soaps, creams and the list goes on….

• Recently I came to know that cucumber peel is used to get rid of ants in home. Just put the peel at the entrance from where the ants come out and they’ run away. Whta’s left to do with them now.

So, Pity the poor cucumbers please.
If not then try some of Cucumber Appetizers below:

• Use frim cucumbers, slice off ends. Remove several lengthwise strips of peel; do not peel completely.
• Slice into 1/2 -inch thick rounds.
• Sprinkle slices lightly with salt and let stand a few minutes.
• Rinse, place slices on paper towel; and pat dry with a secong towel.
• Top with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of a favourite flavoured spread. Or spread with cheese and top with a small curl of smoked salmon.
• Or top with smoked or salted chicken or mutton.

Enjoy it.
Interesting fact: The sea cucumber is not a vegetable but an animal that lives in the sea. It has a cucumber-like shape.