[2] Fancy or casual roulades: julienned cucumbers rolled in prosciutto. You can soak the cucumbers in gin! Here’s the recipe from Parma Crown (photo © Parma Crown).

[3] Cucumbers, yogurt, garlic, and dill are the ingredients of Greek tzatziki, but can also be served as a dip (photo © Ausport | Australia).

[4] Chilled cucumber soup is a summer refresher. Here’s a recipe for Chilled Cucumber Yogurt Soup (photo © Chocolate Lab |San Francisco [now closed]).

[5] Cucumber ice pops, here accented with green tea and mint. Here’s the recipe from Cake Over Steak (photo © Cake over Steak).

[6] Spiralized cucumber salad with sesame. Here’s the recipe from Bowl Of Delicious (photo © Bowl of Delicious).

[7] These heirloom cucumbers have a yellow peel, not green (photo © Baldor Specialty Food).

[8] You may be able to find Armenian cucumbers at a farmers’ market—or grow your own. Its creamy flesh has good crunch, superb flavor, and few seeds (photo © Burpee).

But what else can you do with them? Here are nine more ways to go beyond “the usual.”

While it is natural to buy the largest cucumbers to “get your money’s worth,” smaller cucumbers are more tender.

Should you peel them? It’s a question of how tough the peel is. Chew a slice with the peel on to decide. One of the things that we like to do is make vertical stripes with a vegetable peeler.

After you check out the different ways to use cucumbers, take a look at the different types of cucumbers.

And don’t overlook the history of cucumbers, below, plus these heirloom cucumbers.

June is National Cucumber Month and June 14th is National Cucumber Day.

The history of cucumbers is below.
 
 
1. CUCUMBER APPETIZERS

Fancy cooks have long used cucumber slices as a base for hors d’oeuvre, instead of bread or crackers. Just add the topping.

With thicker slices, you can scoop out a well in the center to stuff crab salad, goat cheese, etc.

Or, make cucumber stacks: “sandwich” bites filled with chicken salad, hummus, olive cream cheese, or whatever you like.

Here are two recipes to start you off:

 
 
2. CUCUMBER DRINKS

Use cucumbers in cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks. Serve cucumber water often!

 
 
3. CUCUMBER ICE

Make cucumber sorbet or ice pops. There are many recipes for both, accenting with coconut water, lemon, lime, matcha tea, or mint.

Here’s a recipe to start you off (photo #5).
 
 
4. CUCUMBER PICKLES WITH GLOBAL FLAVORS

You don’t need to put them up in Mason jars: Recipes for quick pickles abound.

By changing spices and vinegar types, you can create delightful “signature pickles.”

Look at your spice shelf, pass by the conventional pickling spices, and go for it. Cayenne? Cumin? Curry?
 
 
5. CUCUMBER SANDWICHES

Cucumber sandwiches on buttered bread are a perennial feature of afternoon tea. Use good butter and bread, and they’re delicious.

Use cucumber slices like iceberg lettuce, to add crunch to a sandwich.

 
 
6. CUCUMBER SAUCES & DIPS

Cucumber and yogurt are served as sides to grilled meats. The two most famous:

 
 
The major difference is the seasoning: garlic, cumin, and cayenne for raita; garlic and dill for tzatziki.

You can thin either of these for dips.
 
 
7. CUCUMBER SIDES & SALADS

You can grill cucumbers, stuff and bake them, or dredge them in cornmeal and fry them. Serve those with lemon wedges and ketchup!

 
 
8. CUCUMBER SOUP

Chilled cucumber soup, like vichyssoise, has long been made in France with a base of cream.

With the growth of yogurt fans in the 1980s, Americans have embraced soups with a yogurt base.

 
Garnishes or mix-ins for cucumber soup include avocado, feta, fresh herbs, garlic, red onion or shallots, and tomato.

Try this Gazpacho Verde recipe.
 
 
9. MARINATED CUCUMBERS

Leave the salad greens behind, and create salads with cucumbers and vinegar.

Israeli salad, a combination of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and parsley, is one of our favorites (here’s a recipe)

Asian cucumber salads are sweet-and-sour. Try this recipe for starters.

Our own recipe for Greek-style cucumber salad: thinly-sliced tomatoes, marinated in wine vinegar; thinly-sliced red onion; halved cherry tomatoes; drizzled with olive oil and topped with kalamata olives and diced feta.

We keep containers of it in the fridge all summer long. If you store it, hold the feta until you’re ready to serve.

And those of you with spiralizers: Make cucumber “zoodle” salad (photo #6).
 
 
CUCUMBER HISTORY

The cucumber originated in India and was cultivated more than 4000 years ago. Easy to cultivate, it spread to other parts of the Pacific.

By the first century B.C.E., it was traded to ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle East, and modern-day Bulgaria and Serbia.

The march of the cucumber was global. It is the fourth most widely cultivated vegetable in the world [source].

(The first practical greenhouse was invented by the French botanist Charles Lucien Bonaparte during the 1800s, to grow medicinal tropical plants.)

Because it is such a prolific grower (one vine grows many cukes), the vegetable was inexpensive and accessible to both the wealthy and peasants. In addition to eating, cucumbers were widely used as medicinal remedies.

After the fall of Rome, cucumbers receded for a long period, resurfacing in France at the court of Charlemagne in the late 8th and 9th centuries.

 
In 2010, worldwide cucumber production was 57.5 million tons, with the majority of the world’s production and export coming from China (40.7 million tons).