Spiky mini cucumbers??
Cucumbers?
Call me weird but everytime I see an ingredient that I don’t know or have never seen before I can’t resist and I just have to buy it. Today I was visiting one of my favorite places to buy meat and vegetables which is the Lindenhoff in Baambrugge. I went there to get a good piece of meat for dinner since my father in law was coming over and I figured we could all use a good piece of something. So I got a really nice piece of veal and started walking around the vegetable area. They grow a lot of their own produce and when you arrive at the farm (the shop is located in the farm where the raise the cows, calves, pigs and lambs you buy in the shop) you can actually walk into the veggie garden. They had a lot of stuff this time of their own garden and I saw these little green spiky monsters. I picked up the basket they were in, took a good look, put them back and then started getting the stuff I needed to have for dinner (lautrec garlic, celeriac, roseval potatoes, apricots and carrots. Didn’t need the last ones but couldn’t resist those either.
They do look a bit chinese if you see them like that, don’t they?
When I went to the register to pay for my goodies I asked the girl at the counter what on earth those things were. Well, she tells me; those are mini cucumbers.. Ok, they are green but that is sort of where it ends in terms of recognizable. So, yes I bought them and now I have no idea what to do with them. I tasted one and indeed the have a cucumber taste but the texture inside is different. More spongy I would say then regular cucumbers. The outside also appear a little tougher. A supermarket cucumber is cruncy on the outside while this one doesn’t break immediately when you put your teeth in it.
I am hoping someone has a suggestion on how I could use these? I haven’t thought of anything other then the obvious boring salad option. Any advice?
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
This is really amusing..spikes on cucumber! Try to pickle them, use in any simple Indian curry, make Raita with yogurt or grill it with other veggies. Lovely pictures, Simone.
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:18
Thanks for the suggestions Sanjeeta! Apparently they are called Mexican cucumbers or olive cucumbers and well, still not sure what to make but I’ll keep everyone posted!
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The inside reminds me of a white courgette.
Will stay tuned.
Interesting how you can cook/eat them
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:22
Yeah although funny enough the texture of the inside feel more like an eggplant..
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How interesting! I’ve never seen these before…curious to see what you come up with!
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:23
Thanks Peter. I’ll make sure to let everyone know what I ended up doing..
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Very Interesting Simone! Would love to try some.
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:24
Thanks!
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make a smoothie, could be savory or sweet
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:17
I do think that the flavor is not distinct enough to make a smoothie. And adding many other different elements will overpower the flavor I think.. Hmm, tricky one!
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never seen these before…thanks for posting them
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:25
Cute aren’t they?
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Wow, these are unusual. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
I’m exactly the same, when I see a new and unusual ingredient I can’t help but buy it, with little thought about how I will use it.
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:16
The only problem is when I have too many unusual ingredients and need to use them all up at the same time!
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So pretty! I have seen them before, but never ate them…
Cheers,
Rosa
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:24
As it turns out there are not a lot of people that have seen them before either! Weird looking little green bugger it is!
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I have never seen these before. Are these really growing on Dutch soil??
I have to visit Lindenhoff, soon!
Magda
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:14
He Magda, Yes they are! Unbelievable right? Apparently they are so called olijfkomkommer or olive cucumbers also called mexican cucumbers… I need to look into it a bit more to find out what to make with them, though
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I would love them stuffed- Indian style………slit them length wise/ do not break into two ……just a slit so u have a little pocket to fill in/ fill with grated onion, garlic mixed with indian spices, salt pepper, coriander, garam masala , turmeric…….bake them or saute them in a pan.
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 10th, 2011 at 11:14
Thanks Alpana. I have still not figured out what to do with them but I’ll come up with something. Thanks for your suggestions!
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haven’t seen like this thank you for sharing
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They look like tiny bugs to me LOL.. such an unusual kind of thing. However for some reason I think I have seen them before, not so tiny, but bigger. Do you think they are more like a squash than a cucumber? in the sense that they cannot be eaten raw but needs to be cooked? I have a feeling this will have a bottle gourd kind of taste. Don’t know what u made with them, but I am thinking a light soupy curry kind would be appropriate. I just made one with the bottle gourd today.. little sweet, tempered with cumin in ghee and some tomato based.. with a nice drizzle of lemon juice
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Simone (junglefrog) — September 13th, 2011 at 07:46
I’ve discovered in the meantime that these are called olive cucumbers or mexican gurkins. They really do taste like cucumbers but the ones I got – although fairly small – were already too big. The taste is best when they are really small (olive size, which is where the name comes from)
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have not seen it before.
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