cute cukes.

what's cooler than a cucumber? a little round yellow one.

hey ma, look what i found! it's called a lemon cucumber, that's cucumis sativus for you latin lovers. it looks kind of like a summer squash, heirloom tomato, and acorn squash got freaky and decided to pull a madonna and tell the raging jealous zucchini, "papa don't preach, i'm keeping my baby."

but.

it turns out it's just a regular old variety of cucumber. called lemon because of the color and shape and small size, not for its taste. it actually tastes just like a sweet cucumber. i don't know, people seem to think cucumbers can be bitter, i personally love them and think they are a very refreshing and very mild, so it's hard for me to relate. anti-nukes i can get behind, anti-cukes i just don't understand. but, for those who sometimes avoid regular old green cukes for fear of a bitter flavor, these lemon cucumbers are touted for their (even) milder and sweeter taste. so these might be the cucumber that changes your mind.

i found these guys at the local farmer's market in gloucester, ma. they were grown organically on a farm in nearby dracut, ma. i had no idea what they were, there was no signage, so i was thinking weird squashish thing, which i was prepared to purchase and try, but the farmer told me, "that's a lemon cucumber" and even though this weird little yellow thing had me at first sight (i mean they are so cute, who could resist?!), now there was no going back. i had to see if this round yellow vegetable in my hand was, in fact, anything like a cucumber. so i paid the farmer, threw the lemon cuke in my bag and made my way back to my mom's house.

and i'll be darned, if that lemon cucumber doesn't look just like a cucumber when you slice it! and taste just like one when you eat it! well, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are, it's a duck. and, so, it seems that i do indeed have myself a cucumber here. from what i just researched, this cucumber variety tends to be a little harder to find at markets, but fairly easy to grow as plants. so guess what i intend to plant?