Eat More Cucumbers!

ebonyroche wrote: »

I eat cucumbers because I love them 😍

Me too!!

I did a batch of bread and butter pickles yesterday with some of the first ones from our garden. The rest will go in a salad with cherry tomatoes and goat cheese. And there's a million more things to make with the rest. I'm so pumped!!!

Cucumber slices satisfy my "crunchy" craving...I use them in place of chips!

tammigates wrote: »

....also delicious with hummus!

That's how I prefer my cucumbers. That, and in a great big green mixed veggie salad.

paperpudding wrote: »

PAV8888 wrote: »

@paperpudding <slinks away to watch fireworks>

I think I have mentioned once or twice that I really do not like cucumbers

Fortunately for me I do not need any help with blood pressure or diuretics and I'm sure I can get enough potassium and vitamins from other foods and I don't have any toxins to need detoxing.

I like cucumbers a lot. But I agree that there is not one specific food that I have to eat to keep my blood pressure in check or get potassium. (P.S. if you have any cucumbers you need to get rid of .... )

claireychn074 wrote: »

I usually love cucumbers and courgettes. But my neighbours have grown an impressive crop this year (thank goodness I haven’t grown any) and I’m now getting marrows fly-tipped on my doorstep. To be fair I did the same to them last year but I can’t keep up with the blasted things! This weekend is narrow chutney time.I’m desperate.

So. A bumper crop of zucchini/courgettes and cucumbers?

Cucumber can be dehydrated nicely.

Zucchini/ courgettes are delicious if you boil and mash with garlic and a little butter. This is a great way to use the cricket/baseball bat sized ones. And it freezes nicely.

acpgee wrote: »

With all this talk about neighbours flytipping excess produce, I wonder if food banks and soup kitchens vegetable donations.

This is a good idea! A couple of our small ones will accept fresh produce. The big regional one here won't from individuals but will from corporations.

I like zucchini and other summer squashes a lot. I make a zucchini bread that's really just a delicious chocolate cake. Also zucchini pickles, or marinated and grilled on skewers. It's an easy thing to chop and saute and add to pretty much any pasta dish or taco or enchilada filling. It can add a lot of bulk and take on the flavors of whatever you're cooking with very nicely, without adding many calories at all. This past week I had a giant one that I sliced and combined with sliced eggplant to make eggplant and zucchini parmesan.

Shredded zucchini can be stored in the freezer easily enough too if I get the itch for zucchini bread/cake midwinter, though I'll also freeze the loaves themselves to be given later as a dessert for meal trains (I do a lot of these - usually for new parents but sometimes other situations too. It's nice to know that my garden and freezer storage can be used to help others too.)

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

claireychn074 wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

I’m now getting marrows fly-tipped on my doorstep

^^ LOL I have no idea what this means!!

Hah! Maybe it’s a Brit thing? Marrows = oversized courgettes (zucchini) and fly tipping is when you dump rubbish somewhere you shouldn’t and run.

As I declined the last lot of courgettes (my fridge is still full of them) my sneaky neighbour waited until it was dark then left a load on my doorstep. I did exactly the same to them last year so it’s now courgette-wars 🤣🤣

Nope. U.S. resident here. Not just a Brit thing. I don't much care for summer squash of any kind, but especially zucchini, because when I was growing up every backyard gardener (including my mother) grew them and tried to foist them on friends, co-workers, neighbors. All summer long it was watery zucchini stewed with tomatoes as the green veg (plus lots of zucchini bread, which was OK). Maybe I should try roasting it now to see if it's better that way -- but who wants to roast in summer?

Before anybody other than university academics knew what the Internet was, there were IRL memes in the U.S. about sneaky ways people tried to get rid of zucchini. Put it in a nice bag or wrap it like a gift and leave it on a bench or bus. Or put the bag on your car's front seat and leave the car door unlocked (if they took the car too, it was a small price to pay to get rid of the zucchini).

Did you mean the practice is not a Brit thing or the phrases are not just Brit?

I am very familiar with the practice of sneaky ways to dispose of excess squashes, but never heard of "marrows" or "fly tipping."

kshama2001 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

claireychn074 wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

I’m now getting marrows fly-tipped on my doorstep

^^ LOL I have no idea what this means!!

Hah! Maybe it’s a Brit thing? Marrows = oversized courgettes (zucchini) and fly tipping is when you dump rubbish somewhere you shouldn’t and run.

As I declined the last lot of courgettes (my fridge is still full of them) my sneaky neighbour waited until it was dark then left a load on my doorstep. I did exactly the same to them last year so it’s now courgette-wars 🤣🤣

Nope. U.S. resident here. Not just a Brit thing. I don't much care for summer squash of any kind, but especially zucchini, because when I was growing up every backyard gardener (including my mother) grew them and tried to foist them on friends, co-workers, neighbors. All summer long it was watery zucchini stewed with tomatoes as the green veg (plus lots of zucchini bread, which was OK). Maybe I should try roasting it now to see if it's better that way -- but who wants to roast in summer?

Before anybody other than university academics knew what the Internet was, there were IRL memes in the U.S. about sneaky ways people tried to get rid of zucchini. Put it in a nice bag or wrap it like a gift and leave it on a bench or bus. Or put the bag on your car's front seat and leave the car door unlocked (if they took the car too, it was a small price to pay to get rid of the zucchini).

Did you mean the practice is not a Brit thing or the phrases are not just Brit?

I am very familiar with the practice of sneaky ways to dispose of excess squashes, but never heard of "marrows" or "fly tipping."

I meant the practice, which was how I read the first reference upthread to "it" being a Brit thing. Apologies if I misread it. I see a singular pronoun, I look for a singular antecedent.

I have heard of marrows and courgettes from watching/reading British cooking shows/books, but was not familiar with the phrase "fly tipping."