Cuke Salad

Nothing beats a garden-fresh cucumber. They make the wax, limp store-bought ones shameful. Once I had kids, it usually would take several days before a cucumber finally made it in the house - and this year is no exception. When the first cukes were getting close I’d sneak out to the garden without the kids so I could hopefully get a few bites of an early cuke. Otherwise, I found that there’s just a nub where the stem was left. And if my youngest gets one, there’s not even that left!

Cukes coming out of our ears

Unfortunately, the only way I know to preserve a cuke over the winter is to pickle it. So once cucumbers start coming, we can never keep up. Although they keep in the fridge for a week or two, eventually they aren’t as fresh anymore.

Once I have a couple of cukes reaching their limit in the fridge, I transform them in cuke salad.

Also, since there’s always a few cucumbers that we miss and get overgrown, cuke salad is another way to use them. If the seeds start to get hard, just scoop them out.

Thin to win

Since cuke salad is basically a marinade, I like to slide the cukes thin to ensure each bite is enfused with flavor.

Cuke salad only takes a few minutes to prep and provides some tang to the mellow vegetable.

Cucumber Salad Recipe

1/2 cup white vinegar
1 t. salt
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup mayo
1/2 t. black pepper
3 peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers

Mix the sugar and salt in the vinegar in a bowl. Mix in the pepper and mayo. The mayo may initially look clumpy but the clumps will disappear. Stir in the cucumbers.

Cuke salad is ready to enjoy immediately or can be stored in the fridge a day or two.