Cool cucumbers

A little like courgettes, cucumbers are well known for the traditional long green variety, which for many people have a skin which are hard to digest and cause them to 'repeat'  when eaten. However as with the courgette there loads of different varieties, some of which we are growing this year - and we have found that some are a little tastier than others.
First has to be the Mini Munch, a well known small, fleshy, crisp 'snack box' sized cucumber which has great flavour with no bitter after taste. Great for pickling, eating with dips or as an salad accompaniment straight off the plant.

A little more exotic is the Crystal Lemon, which has a delightful, rounded, lemon-coloured fruits. They have a white flesh and are excellent for either slicing or pickling and are reputed to be more digestible than other types, they are sweet and fresh.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the White Wonder which is reported to be a 'gorgeous little crunchy white cucumber  which forms ivory white, 15-20cm long, fat, oval fruits, with a citrusy-sweet flavour'. 

It is claimed to be 'a brilliant slicer and adds interest to any salad dish or purely to snack on', but that is not what we found, it was extremely bitter with a thick skin and we in fact we removed the plants and replaced them with crystal lemons and carosellos.

Carosello is an exciting, hard to find cucumber from southern Italy, it has curious very thin  fuzzy skin, and has a sweet, mild, flavour resembling a melon. Perfect in salads and a great accompaniment for pasta dishes, and is reported to be easier to digest than ordinary cucumbers, which we agree with, it is definitely one we will grow in the future

The only slight draw back of the carosello is the amount of seeds that it contains, but the surrounding flesh makes up for it.

However the cucumber star of the year and our favourite has to be Salt and Pepper, which is a variety which is small, squat, and cylindrical. Their outer skin is thin, white and delicately nobbly which turns a pale yellow; growing darker the longer the cucumber is left on the vine. 

The inner flesh is pale green with a few translucent seeds. These delightful little cucumbers have a crisp texture and a mild, pleasant flavour. They are best suited for eating fresh and pickling. They can be sliced or chopped and used in salads, cold pasta dishes or as a garnish. They also make fantastic pickled gherkins, when they take on spicy flavours and maintain their crunch, so a win, win all-round.