I love summertime!!! My best memories are summer days in the country in Virginia! Running around barefoot in the sweltering heat and didn’t even care! Climbing trees, rolling in the grass, eating all the wonderful garden treats, it was divine!! I was very skinny and sometimes I’d be so full from fruit and veggies that I wouldn’t touch my dinner; oooooOOOO it made my grandma upset! She was sure I’d waste away to nothing. I didn’t…I made up for it!
One of my favs was cucumbers, we had them at every meal both in cucumber form and pickles! My Mamame, my other grandmother, made pickles every year, mostly I remember how bad the house smelled!!!! For the most part, I’ll take them pre-pickle form i.e. cucumber.
My grandmother, and just about everyone, served them in vinegar with onions, but I haaaateed vinegar, so my grandma would put one little bowl of cucumbers on the table with water and a little salt. Just for me!!! I loved it!! Sometimes I’d just slice a cucumber like cutting up an apple, sprinkle a little salt on every slice and pop it into my mouth! The best, right next to pulling a cherry tomato off the vine all warm and sunshiny and then having it burst with weirdly cool tomato juice in side your mouth!!! MMMmmmMM!!!
Pickles are worthy of a blog post in themselves. I once nearly made myself sick in a church fellowship hall because all the ladies made their own recipe for deviled eggs ( a weakness of mine), but every egg had a little sliver of THIER OWN homemade pickle on top. I mean…It woulda just been rude to not try at least one of each y’all!! Plus they’d ask!! And you can’t lie in a church fellowship hall. I’m sure God tell’s southern ladies if you lie about their pickles. We’ll stick to cucumbers today.
Did you know?
The expression “Cool as a cucumber” was first used in 1732 to mean steady and calm.
You can rub a cucumber on your window to help keep it from fogging up. Hmmm…mask eyeglass fog problem solved??
Rehydrate. The high water content is hydrating and can even help with a hangover because of the water content and high vitamin content – so they say.
Joint health, their silica content may help with aches and pains and promote joint health.
Cucumbers are high nutrient density, but low calories making it a great choice when watching your calories…or any other time.
Cucumbers are packed with antioxidants, primarily lignins, triterpenes, and flavonoids and can help with cell health and inflammation.
Cucumbers are over 3000 years old and originated in India
Cucumbers are a good source of Vitamin K, A, calcium, choline, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and folate, plus fiber.
Recipes:
Icebox Pickles (Icebox is a refrigerator and yeah; I had to squeeze one pickle recipe in)
Cucumber Salad – the basic
Cucumber Melon Salad with Chile and honey (yeah, lots of salads)
And of course Cucumber Sandwiches
Pimm’s Cup Note: British lemonade is fizzy and not like American lemonade. Try something like sprite or use lemonade and add carbonated water.
Share your cucumber recipes, OK pickle too, in the comments!
Happy Summer and Enjoy!
I live in Greensboro NC with my husband who is an Environmental Consultant and Geologist and I am a Certified Health Coach. We both are Independent Shaklee Distributors and help people live healthier, greener lives.