Persian cucumbers, my new favorite salad ingredient

[coll]

Never knew about these before (only started loving cucumbers in general the last few years). My local store had them on sale, 3 for $1, and I liked the look of them. Perfect size, cucs are usually so overblown. But on top of that, they were tasty, tender and meaty, just perfect in my Easter salad, an all around home run for me. I sure hope they have them all the time now. I may be the last to know, but just in case I wanted to share.

[luckyfatima]

I love Persian cucumbers, too. They really taste like, well, like cucumbers. They aren't watery and they don't have those hard seeds that sometimes need to be scraped out and that some people can't digest easily. Persian cucumbers are more like the cucumbers one finds in South Asia and the Middle East. Using them in recipes from those regions really makes a difference. They make delicious cooling cucumber raita/yoghurt-cucumber sauce. Often with the larger, regular cucumbers, they throw off so much water when cut and lack flavor so the taste of the raita is really compromised. They also go great paired with flavorful locally grown or organic tomatoes for a Lebanese style cucumber and tomato salad...once again, the delicious flavor and thin skin makes these taste great in this combo and produce a salad far superior to the waxy thick skinned regular cucumbers. I really enjoy them just cut up plain as well.

[coll]

Thanks for all these great ideas, I can see these cucumbers will be on my menu this summer in quite a few dishes. Unfortunately I have a package of regular "burpless" cucumber seeds to plant and with my luck, I'll have a bumper crop. Next year, Persian all the way!

[Sarah Perry]

I agree that Persian cucumbers are meatier in texture - they seem to have fewer and less noticeable seeds than ordinary cucumbers. They also seem to have noticeably more cucumber flavor - as arktos notes, Japanese cucumbers have a more delicate flavor, but Persian cucumbers kind of shout CUCUMBER! in your mouth. I love both for different uses.

[coll]

I'll give Japanese a try too if I run into them. But your description of Persian makes me want some more right now!

[arktos]

If you think those are good, wait till you try Japanese cucumbers, which are similar but longer and more delicate.

[coll]

Oh thanks, I will keep my eye out for them. There are a few grocery chains here that specialize in produce, and are cheap, so I'm more than willing to experiment!

[tastesgoodwhatisit]

Yeah, I love the Japanese ones. More skin to flesh ratio (I like the taste of the skin), un-noticeable seeds, and they can be easily cut up into sticks, or sliced for salad.

[fourunder]

Persian Cucumbers are very good, I agree. My local Costco has been carrying them for years at about 4-5 dollars per 8-10 pack if not mistaken. At the local vegetable stores, they are always available for 1.79-1.99/lb. I'm a Kirby man myself.

[coll]

I'm so glad to knew they're readily available. I bought regular cucumber seeds for my garden this summer, wish I knew about these a couple of months ago!

[fourunder]

One thing I noticed about Persian compared to Kirby.....the Persians have a longer shelf life. Be sure to store outside of sealed plastic for either. Plastic seems to accelerate deterioration ( slime ).

[coll]

Thanks for the info. My store just sold them loose, luckily.

Wonder how they'd be grilled quickly, to serve with Middle Eastern dips? They almost seem a bit zuccini-ish.