Surplus cucumbers

[PLUMPUDDING]

I got the juicer out today and made a very pleasant drink with the following:-

2 raw beetroots (scrubbed and topped and tailed) quarter them if large
1 cucumber
1 apple pips removed

Then just juice them

This made two glasses

Cucumber goes with carrots and lots of other fruit and veg and gives a fresher flavour to some of the sweeter ones. A few more glasses and I will have cleared the backlog of cukes from the fridge

[Primrose]

My two plants are now producing more than we can quickly eat so the surplus being sliced lengthways, covered with salt for a few hours to remove surplus moisture then pickled in white dill flavoured vinegar . We did this with gherkins last year and they were excellent . Sadly most the crispness of the cucumbers will be lost in the pickling process but hopefully the flavour will still be good.

I still can't believe that home grown cucumbers, especially the mini ones, have so much more crunch and texture than the supermarket ones. i was amazed at the difference the first time I grew them.

Incidentally, does anybody know what to look out for on a seed packet to select a smooth skinned cucumber as opposed to a "prickly" skinned variety. This year mine are all prickly skinned. Last year, and I can't recall the variety I grew, they were smooth skinned. Does this partly depend on growing conditions or is it 100 % down to variety?

[robo]

Hi primrose, if you break the male flowers off that will stop them pollinating that should help you get smooth skins, although to be honest its been over 30 years since ive grown ordinary cucumbers

[PLUMPUDDING]

My cucumbers are a prickly variety this year but I can't remember what it was. Like you say they have an excellent flavour and crunch far superior to watery shop ones.

I grew a shorter variety last year and that was smooth so I think it's variety rather than growing conditions.

[Primrose]

Perhaps we had a free packet of "prickly skin" cucumbers with our Kitchen Garden magazine ?

[PLUMPUDDING]

I was wondering about that Primrose. The other things I've grown from the KG free seeds have done very well too, particularly the Detroit beetroot, and the mint selection has produced about 5 different ones that I can see.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I thought I would try making a cucumber cake to try getting rid of a couple since the courgette cake was so good.

DON'T DO IT it is horrible much too strong a cucumber taste despite using lemon and vanilla as flavourings. It might work with a small amount of cucumber and a stronger spice like ginger, or perhaps mint and lemon might be ok. Even coating it in lemon butter icing didn't improve it much.

[Primrose]

Thanks for the warning. That's a shame after making the effort. I think possibly also cucumbers have a more watery texture than Courgettes which makes them impossible to grate and mix in with the flour. Also you're right, cucumbers have a more distinctive taste than courgettes which are capable of blending more anonymously into other mixtures. Still, if you don't experiment occasinally you never find out these things, do you?

[PLUMPUDDING]

The only thing I can say in it's favour is that it had a very nice moist light texture. Pity about the taste