My cucumber patch gave out long ago, but the grocery store cukes have been decent – until recently. For the last month or so, the regular slicing cucumbers I have purchased have been over-ripe with huge seeds and generally poor. So recently I tried the English cucumbers instead and they have been excellent. They have also been on sale on several occasions, once for a buck apiece – a terrific buy.
I once bought English cucumbers by mistake for my garden, thinking they were regular slicing cukes, and they did famously. I had a huge crop and they were delightful in salads and for pickling. My recent experience with the English cukes at the grocery stores will now encourage me to plant some again next spring.
Google tells me there are over 100 varieties of cucumbers but the English and slicers are most common.
A few differences:
Slicers have a tougher, more bitter skin and with larger seeds, but they are cheaper.
The English cukes are longer and generally come wrapped in plastic (not waxed). The skin is thinner, not bitter and the English cukes are practically seedless.
Until next spring, when the fresh slicers return to the shelves and my garden, I intend to spend a little more and buy English cucumbers.
Here is a recipe for Sour Cream Cucumbers I used recently with the English cukes
Sour Cream Cucumbers
2 English cucumbers
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 t sugar
1 t salt
1 cup sour cream
2 T. chopped fresh chives
1 t. dried dill weed (or 2 T fresh dill weed)
1 t. celery seeds
Dissolve the sugar and salt in the cider vinegar. Peel and thinly slice the cucumbers in a separate bowl. To the cider, salt and sugar mixture add the sour cream, chives, dill and celery seed. Mix well and stir into the cucumbers and chill at least one hour before serving. It’s a nice change of pace form a tossed salad and it does well as a leftover the following day.