PlanterTomato Vegetable Gardening

Beit Alpha Cucumber Reviewed

Review of the Beit Alpha Cucumber - A really great all-around cucumber.

Beit Alpha is an open pollinated, burpless, cucumber that is a winner on so many levels that it's hard to think of a better all-around variety.

Developed in Israel, Beit Alpha produces an abundance of 8-12 inch long cucumbers that have a skin so thin that it does not require peeling.  That's a real time saver when preparing them for a salad or when processing them for canning. 

Seeds for this variety germinate in about a week and the plant reaches maturity in 55 days.

Beit Alpha cucumbers are very sweet -- not a trace of bitterness.  And they are highly versatile as well; we used them in salads, ate them sliced on their own, and made many batches of lovely pickles. 

I really find it hard to find a single weakness in this variety.  If you can grow just one cucumber variety, this is the one.  You can buy seeds at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Cucumber Growing Tip - grow your cukes on a trellis.  Trellising will increase the yields and also produce nicer-looking straight cucumbers.

Hmong Red Cucumbers & A Refreshing Cucumber Mint Cooler

A very unusual cucumber and an equally unusual drink that will cool you down on those hot summer days.

I love to try new things in my garden each year.  This year, when looking through the Baker Creek seed catalog, I noticed an unusual orange-yellow cucumber called a Hmong (pronounced Mah-ng) Red.  Intrigued, I decided to try them this year and I harvested the first one this weekend.

The Hmong Red cucumber is named after a specific ethnic group (The Hmong) who originate from Asia:  China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. About 200,000 ethnic Hmong currently live in the United States, many of them arriving in the mid 1970's as refugees from the Vietnam War. 

Although the Baker Creek catalog did not state this specifically, I suspect that these immigrants brought seeds for this unusual cucumber with them, and this is how they made their way into the Baker Creek catalog.

The Hmong red is as easy to grow as any other cucumber -- which is pretty easy.  They also grow to an amazing size; the one shown in the attached picture weighed 2 pounds 4 ounces.  When young, the cucumber is green, but it gradually turns yellow, and then orange. 

Many cucumbers are quite sweet.  The Hmong Red (when harvested at the yellow/orange stage) has a mild sour/bitter flavor.  You can use it as a salad cucumber, but I wanted to see if I could find a more interesting and authentic way to eat it.  And here it is....

Hmong Cucumber Mint Cooler

This recipe was developed by Andrea Nguyen, an author, freelance writer and cooking teacher who lives in Northern California. The below cucumber mint cooler recipe and drink photo are printed with her permission, www.vietworldkitchen.com.

Andrea has won high praise and a numerous awards.  Her cookbooks including Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors and Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More can be purchased through Amazon.com or other book stores.

Cucumber Mint Cooler Recipe

The Hmong cucumber is halfway between a cucumber and a melon. It doesn’t taste like much on its own until you add sugar. Then it is transformed.  Without a Hmong cucumber, use honeydew melon.

Ingredients:

One whole or a half Hmong cucumber
Sugar
5 to 8 large mint leaves
Ice
Filtered Water

Instructions:

1. Halve the cucumber lengthwise, in needed. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.

2. Use the tines of a fork to scrape out the flesh, depositing them in a bowl. Try to get down to the cucumber skin. Discard when there is little flesh left. The flesh will be in pale green pieces. (If you want a smoothie-like texture, puree the flesh in a blender before moving on.)

3. Measure how much flesh you have. For every cup, stir in 2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons sugar and 3 or 4 mint leaves. Your stirring will dissolve the sugar and bruise the mint.  Don’t be alarmed as the cucumber flesh gives off some bubbles. Taste to make sure there is a pronounced sweet flavor.

4. For each 1 cup of flesh, add 1/2 cup water, stirring to combine. Serve over ice, stirring a few times to chill the mixture. (Alternatively, chill the mixture and then serve it over ice.) Present this cooler with a spoon for guests to eat the flesh. 

Cucumber Avocado Soup & Smoked Salmon Lunch

We are now getting into the hottest days of summer, so here's a quick light meal idea for those days when it's too hot to move, let alone eat.

Cucumber Avocado Soup

This is a delicious, refreshing cold soup and it only takes a few minutes to prepare.  It also uses some of those cucumbers that you've got growing in your garden.

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1 cucumber that's been chilled in your refrigerator (If it's a variety that has a very tough skin, peel the cucumber)
  
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 ice cubes
  
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Chopped chives for garnish

Recipe:

• Remove the avocado skin and dice the fruit.
• Cut the cucumber into large chunks.
  
• Place the ice cubes in the blender and blend till they are chopped into small bits.
• Now add the avocado, cucumber and yogurt and blend on medium until everything is smooth.
• You can eat this as is, or you can cool the soup further by placing it into a non-reactive bowl and storing in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
• Serve with some chopped chives on top as a garnish.
• Add salt & pepper to taste.  (In my opinion, you really do need to add some salt to get the flavors to pop)

Smoked Salmon Plate

The soup recipe above is terrific but if you want to add a little more substance to the meal while still keeping things light, then I recommend pairing the soup with smoked salmon (also called lox or gravlax).  You can buy this in better super markets, bagel shops or delicatessens.  It's just cured salmon that has been smoked and sliced very thinly.

There's nothing to this dish.... You just plate the salmon and put out pumpernickel bread or crackers on which to eat it.  In our house, we also serve the salmon with diced red onion, capers and lemon wedges on the side.  You can garnish the salmon with the capers and onions if that's suits your taste, or just squeeze some fresh lemon juice on top of the salmon to brighten the flavor.  That's it.

Enjoy your meal and stay cool as we enter the dog days of summer.

If you have a favorite light summer meal, let me know by posting a comment this posting.

A Recipe for Spicy Dill Pickles

If you're cucumber harvest is more than you can eat right now, here's a spicy pickling recipe that will preserve them for about a month.

A few days ago, I posted my wife's recipe for cucumber salad.  This salad was made with a variety of cucumber called Beit Alpha which is perfect for making a quick summer salad because it requires no peeling.  In this posting, I'll introduce you to a different variety of cucumber and also provide a more traditional way to preserving it.

Delikatesse Cucumbers:

Delikatesse cucumbers are a fairly rare heirloom variety from Germany.  The cucumbers have a thin, bitter skin on the outside and very firm, crunchy and sweet flesh.

Delikatesse produces abundant fruits which are paler in color than other varieties. (almost lime green in some cases) They grow 8-10 inches long and are considered primarily a slicing cucumbers, probably because they are a bit bigger than other varieties used for pickling.  That notwithstanding, we used Delikatesse cucumbers to make pickles and were very happy with the results. 

Growing Tips:

• Plant seeds about 2 weeks after your last frost date when the soil temperature is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
  
• Direct sow seeds 1/2 inch deep.  I grow my cucumbers hydroponically, but if you grow yours traditionally, plant them about 9 to 12 inches apart. 
  
• You'll get more fruit if you trellis your plants and trellising results in longer, straighter cucumbers.
  

Spicy Dill Pickles

Below is a recipe for a spicier version of dill pickles that comes from the Bon Appetit magazine (August 1993).  These pickles have that dill pickle flavor, but it's kicked up one notch by the presence of the red pepper which make for a slightly spicier version of the classic dill pickle.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 Delikatesse (large sized) or 12 traditional pickling cucumbers
• 2 cups water
• 1 3/4 cups distilled white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
• 1 tablespoon pickling spice (In the spice section of the supermarket)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dill seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Recipe:

• If you are using Delikatesse cucumbers, you may need to slice these in order to store them in canning jars.  If they are small cucumbers, you can use the cucumbers whole.
• Combine all the ingredients except the dill in a large bowl.  Stir and let stand on the counter for 2 hours.
• Transfer the cucumbers to wide-mouth storage jars and cover with the pickling mixture.  Add a sprigs of dill to each jar.
• Cover the jars and refrigerate for 10 days.
• Yields between 2 to 2.5 quarts.  Stays fresh up to 1 month.

A Delicious Recipe For Cucumber Salad

A refreshing summer salad that takes just minutes to make.

With the weather heating up and cucumbers becoming available for harvest, I thought I'd share a simple recipe with you for a refreshing cucumber salad.  It takes only a couple minutes to prepare and is a real change of pace from your normal lettuce and tomato type salads.  On a hot summer day, this hits the mark.

This year, I'm growing a variety of cukes, but the first into harvest is a variety called Beit Alpha.  What makes this cucumber so nice is that its' skin is so delicate that you do not need to peel it.  Just slice it. Trust me, you won't be disappointed;  the flesh is crunchy and sweet with not a bit of bitterness.  If you live in a hot area or if you would like to grow your cucumbers in a greenhouse, this variety will work for you. 

I've got mine growing hydroponically on the roof.  For information on that mad experiment, check out my prior posting, A Fiddler on the Roof.

Recipe:

This recipe was developed by my wife and is a summer favorite.  To make the salad, you want to slice the cucumbers as thin as possible -- paper thin is best.  A mandolin slicer is the perfect tool if you have one.

Ingredients:

• 1 thinly sliced cucumber
  
• 3 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of fresh or dried dill, chopped up
• A grind or two of pepper

Recipe:

1. Peel, if not using a thin skinned variety of cucumber.  Then thinly slice.
   
2. Mix all of vinegar, water and other seasoning in a bowl.  Taste the seasoning using one of the cucumber slices and adjust to your taste.  If you like it sweeter, add a little more sugar etc.
   
3. Gently toss the sliced cucumber into the seasoning mixture.
4. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes to allow the cucumber to marinate.