Cucumbers: A Summertime Treat

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For many people, fresh, crunchy cucumbers are the taste of summertime. Others can’t imagine eating them unless they’ve been pickled – which is sort of a pity, since cucumbers in their natural state are exquisite. Although they’re considered a gourd, cukes have the texture of a melon. However it’s taxonomized, in whatever state it’s served, cucumbers have pleased palates of countless millions of people since they were first cultivated and harvested long, long ago. Health food mavens have blended cucumbers into nutrient-packed smoothies. Greeks use them as a secret ingredient in the delectable dressing used in gyros.

Gherkins, pepinos, common English cukes – there is no shortage of varieties from which to choose when considering cucumber seeds for a small garden. The veggie wasn’t immediately popular when traders first brought cucumber seeds back from Asia to Europe. It’s just been in the past century and a half, in fact, that the familiar emerald gourd that grows from cucumber seeds became a global favorite.

Cukes are very user-friendly for the gardener looking to save cucumber seeds for future plantings. Allow the vegetable to ripen on the vine until it swells up and becomes yellow. Bring them indoors and allow them to ripen just a bit more on a surface away from direct sunlight. After they have turned soft, extract the seed mass and put it in a large water jar. After a few days, skim away the film that congeals on top of the water and remove the seeds. Rinse them in a strainer, they set the cucumber seeds out to dry for at least three weeks.

There are basically two types of cucumbers: Pickling varieties, such as the gherkin, the American dill, and the cornichon (small French pickle), which are fairly small and bulbous; and slicing varieties, such as the long, thin-skinned English cucumber and the large, thick-skinned Armenian cucumber. If you’re planning to plant cucumbers – and you should – it’s a good idea to try several kinds of cucumber seeds to see what is best for your climate and local soil.
Many people mistakenly believe that cucumbers can be used only as pickles or as a salad ingredient. In fact, there is a wide variety of dishes – American, European, and Asian – that use cucumbers in delicious and unexpected ways.

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If you'd like to learn more about the benefits of growing heirloom seeds go to http://www.eldoradoheirloomseeds.com
for our FREE resources including our guide to heirloom garden seeds or visit: http://www.cucumberseeds.org



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