Uhibbu Lemon Cucumbers!

Saturday’s farmer’s market at Grand Army Plaza was packed! Pip, Pookie (Pip’s pal has been staying with us) and I ran into canine and foodie pals alike. This is one of the few venues where we can all shop together. Sterling’s people, Cat and Dave, insisted that I take home some ‘lemon cucumbers’. Who could refuse that sort of directive? We had already joined Habibi (Arabic for “Beloved”) and his person, Glenn. Glenn is a very well traveled man, who, of all the off-leash crowd (wonder what the dogs call us?) could probably explain BCE (we are about to get to that) and a few other things as well. But, for all Glenn’s erudition, lemon cucumbers were a mystery for him as well. We had a mission! One farm stand later, culinary adventures bagged, dogs and off-leash acquaintances headed back to our respective kitchens and, as it turns out, research sources. Glenn and I had the twin impulse to get home and consult greater food minds.

How do I know this? Here’s the link that Glenn sent about Lemon Cucumbers.

My favorite source, McGee, writes that cucumbers were domesticated in India around 1500 BCE which is an awfully long time ago (what’s BCE? Here’s a reference from Wiki and one from About.com). A cucumber is in the squash /cucurbit family, keeping company with, well, squashes and watermelons! Apparently, watermelons and cucumbers are related, a good illustration of pointing out the obvious…. as in, duh… of course! It never really occurred to me before, but makes complete sense now. What isn’t obvious are these cucumbers.

Make sure to wash off any little prickles left on the outside and eat whole like an apple. Alternately, if you are feeling fancy or want to share, slice them and pull out some fancy imported salt to use sparingly as a seasoning. That’s it! They taste nothing like a lemon, so it’s not about looks! It is about a refreshing, mild cucumber that is easy to eat by itself or use (skin and all) as an easy addition to a seasonal summer salad. Ah… uhibbu lemon cucumbers! (Glenn tells me that this is the companion verb to Habibi. ”Uhibbu” is the Arabic verb for ‘I love’. Apparently Glenn’s dog is a pure-bred noun.)