I keep meaning to do an update over in the Garden Notes, I swear every day the garden shows me something new. We’ve been enjoying the first tomatoes, beans, carrots and scallions, and any day now the eggplant are going to be ready to pick. (What am I going to do with those!) But when we arrived home from camping, there were a few new things to discover, and I was very pleased to hear that one of our neighbors enjoyed a meal of green beans off the vines.
So far we’ve been eating two varieties of tomato. One is called a Siletz- it’s an heirloom variety- a determinate, bushy one that is considered an early tomato. It’s one of the first to ripen, and they’ve been great for first tomatoes. They’re a slightly smaller tomato, but they have that standard orangey-red tomato color, and they’re full of juice and are just simply delicious. It’s really hard to see in this photo, but the three on the left here are Siletz tomatoes.
The other two tomatoes on the top right are our current favorite though- German Red Strawberry tomatoes are also an heirloom, and many of the tomatoes have had a heart-strawberry shape to them. They have a different color to them and are almost a pink tomato. These ones are dense- they have very little juice and seeds but they have such a satisfying flavor- they’re wonderful. They’re perfect for chunking up in a salad or simply eating like an apple. We’ve been thrilled with the few tomatoes we’ve sampled so far and are looking forward to many more!
Another star of the week was the first of the cucumbers. Again, I planted heirloom varieties, and while the second variety has been slow to produce anything, the Poona Kheera are starting to grow like gangbusters. While we were gone, I wondered if any of the neighbors were going to try picking the cukes- we’d told them all to help themselves to anything that looked ready to eat. But with the cucumbers- well, the Poona Kheera are unlike any cucumber I’ve ever had before. These are yellow cucumbers. In fact, they start out light green and then slowly turn yellow, followed by an orangey-bronze color. It’s that orangey-bronze color that indicated they’re ripe. As we’ve discovered, the light yellow ones are still quite astringent, and not ready to eat. But the orange-bronze cucumbers are fantastic! They’re on the smaller side- maybe 6 or 7 inches long at the most for the biggest ones, but they make up for it in flavor. They’re very sweet, and beautifully crispy- in fact, they are the most crispy cucumber I’ve ever had. In short, I’m smitten with these Poona Kheera cucumbers. Here are two pictures- one of the ripe fruit, and one of it sliced.
They have large, generous seeds in them, so I wouldn’t use these in any application where you remove the seeds, you wouldn’t have much cucumber left, but they taste so great simply sliced that we’re going to enjoy every single one that comes off the vine. I hope they produce for awhile!
So when we arrived home from camping, after a week of heavy protein meals, which are necessary when camping to keep the energy flowing, we feasted on a bounty of fresh vegetables. I picked some of the first of the rainbow carrots and some more chard to make a simple sauce for tossing some pasta with. Here’s a picture of the rainbow carrots:
Some green beans were blanched and then tossed with German Red Strawberry tomatoes and a honey-dijon vinaigrette for a simple salad. Cucumbers were simply sliced. And we had a feast for Kings, and I’ve been enjoying the vegetable bounty ever since. In fact, most of this week I’ll be dishing out more vegetarian dishes, as I feel in the mood to enjoy what the garden has to offer. Stay tuned- and if you want a sneak peak of what’s to come, head on over to Menu Planning 101 where I’ve actually gotten a menu up and going. I’ll also get the Garden Notes updated this week with all new pictures and notes, and with any luck, The Savvy Bookworm will see an update as well. We’re back in action here at Tummy Treasure- I hope you’re having a great week!
We had the Indian cukes from our farmers’ market here (the yellow ones you’re growing) and you are right they are fabulously crispy. I gotta admit though we preferred them with the seeds and skin removed. Our farmers’ market has local chefs do demos with local food, and the local chef that used them was also a fan of removing the seeds. Interesting that you do not find them bitter.
Laura, ours are bitter if I pick them earlier. When they’re a lighter yellow, they are a touch bitter, but I’ve been letting them go until they’re darker and then they’re sweet the whole way through.
I’ll bet that’s why they’re removing the seeds, and why mine are sweet- I’m just letting them “age” a bit longer. 🙂
That could be–mine were a variety of shades (and when I asked the farmers, they said according to the seed packet 🙂 they should be enjoyed at any stage…). I’m glad you posted on this–I will only look for the super dark ones next time.
I’m glad I accidentally discovered it! I would have likely picked that first cuke when it turned light yellow, but since we were gone, I had no choice but to pick it brown. I was so disappointed with the first yellow one we tasted, that they’re all now hanging on the vine, waiting for the perfect orange haze. Yum!
I found baby cukes on my other plants today too! So I’m excited to check out a second variety.