Cucumber

Concombre

What it is

Tiberius wanted it every day of the year, so Roman gardeners grew it in wheeled beds pushed into the sun and covered at night with frames glazed in sheets of mica — greenhouses, sixteen centuries early, built for one emperor's appetite.

In the kitchen

Salt sliced cucumber for twenty minutes and drain it before dressing. Otherwise it weeps into the sauce and dilutes everything.

Goes with

Dill Yogurt Mint Garlic Lemon Feta Tomato White wine vinegar

Same species

Cantaloupe melon Cornichon Honeydew melon Narazuke Salt-fermented dill cucumber

Also used with

Barley koji Bastourma Begonia petals Bettarazuke Pekin duck Star fruit

In season alongside

Lettuce Sweetfish (ayu) Borage Brousse du Rove Chayote Chervil

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