Cucumbers coming out your ears? Can’t even think of another batch of pickles or relish? How about overgrown cucumbers?
I just returned from vacation to find 8 pounds of overgrown cucumbers, so I found myself wondering what I could make that would make the thicker skin and large seeds not a problem. The only thing I could think of was pureeing or processing to a fine chop – and what do finely chopped cucumbers go into? Tzatziki sauce!! …and perhaps Cucumber Bread?!? Don’t know how well this will work, but I’m going to try freezing the finely chopped cucumbers for use in recipes during cucumber’s off-season. Since most of the recipes I found use 2 cups, which is exactly 1 pound of cucumber, I have frozen it in 2 cup portions.
Amazingly, the Diva cucumbers, even though they were huge, didn’t have very large seeds and none of them were bitter. I think the weather had a large part to do with no bitterness, but the seed size is definitely attributable to the variety.
I will try to remember to post an update on how my frozen cucumber puree works in recipes later this year.
2017 Update: the puree worked great – there were some drawbacks, though: color & water content. I made tzatziki sauce with it, so the color didn’t matter, but it was a little too soupy. I think I will drain it slightly while it’s defrosting next time.
I have a lot of cucumbers in my garden. I have pickled and pickled. I puréed some and combined it with cream cheese, a bit of grated onion and garlic. A splash of lemon juice and voila! Dip, sandwich spread, dressing base (mix with olive oi, and more lemon juice). I want to freeze my puréed cukes to use this through the winter. Mhiw did yours turn out?
Hi Sara,
Great recipe idea!! I’m going to have to try that. 🙂
I tried out one of my frozen batches of pureed cucumber, and it was pretty good. The color wasn’t fantastic, but the smell was still good and cucumber-y.
Next time, I think I will let some of the water drain out before mixing it for tzatziki, because it was a bit runnier than normal.
Here’s hoping for a huge crop of cucumbers this year!!
For using cucumbers in the Greek yogurt concoction the cucumbers need to be put into cheese cloth and squeezed dry. The yogurt needs to be strained too.