What are these? Like little balls of sunshine, these round, striped vegetables are, oddly enough, cucumbers. Thinking that these are un-edible gourds is more believable than being told that they’re actually edible lemon cucumbers. Looking like lemon colored gourds with cucumber features in the center, these lemon cucumbers are too unique and interesting to pass up. We’ve never seen them at the markets before and seeing is believing, so we decided to see, touch, taste and grow these for ourselves. After a visit to the nursery and two lemon cucumber plants later in our whiskey barrel, their crazy, twining, serpent vines were stretching beyond the barrels and tangling on to anything that crossed it’s path!
Warning: Lemon cucumbers vines grow and crawl like serpents! Start with just one plant and give it plenty of room!
With some good draining soil, frequent watering and a good stretch of warm weather, these vines are proliferating with yellow balls of beauteous lemon cucumbers! They are so easy to grow and before we knew it, we’ve got enough lemon cucumbers to last us the whole summer. All you cucumber loving gardeners will just love adding this to your vegetable patch. Lemon cucumbers are super crunchy and sweeter than their regular long green counterparts. Perfect for salads or just munching on, these cute little cukes are a great conversation piece too! They really do look like yellow gourds and round meyer lemons but when you bite past the yellow peel, you’ll see that they’re all cucumber on the inside: juicy, crisp and sweet.
Tony over at Olive Juice has a monthly event called Taste of the Mediterranean, where he highlights foods of the Meditterranean region as well as specific regional dishes. Every month, bloggers get to blog about their re-creation of the recipe or highlight their own spin on the dish. His theme for this month is Pesto Genovese and is calling out to everyone to make their version of this pesto. He even has a cool and funny video for the event, starring Tony himself and his super funny Italian double. Everyone should join in on his fun monthly event, especially if it’s inspired by a video! *Hint, Hint, Tony!*
We made a pesto from our garden basil to top off these refreshing lemon cucumbers, but didn’t have an more of the required pine nuts. Bummer! Our pantry was empty on the nuts, something we need to re-stock on ASAP. So, we don’t exactly qualify for the prize but made it anyways without the nuts. Our simple garden pesto was made from basil leaves crushed in the mortar pestle, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Parmesan and a little garlic. It was still a delicious topping to this Summery lemon cucumber pesto dish! Sorry Tony! Next time we’ll make sure to read the directions carefully and follow the rules!
Print This Recipe
Lemon Cucumber and Pesto Recipe
Ingredients:
About 3-4 medium lemon cucumbers
2 cups fresh Italian basil leaves and stems
1/2 cup olive oil
1 clove crushed garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
3 Tablespoons fresh, grated parmesan cheese
1. Slice or chop cucumbers.
2. In food processor: combine basil leaves, olive oil, garlic, sea salt, black pepper and parmesan cheese. Blend ingredients till combined well.
3. Dress over cucumbers.
4. In Mortar, crush basil leaves and garlic till. Scoop up basil/garlic combo and place in bowl. Add salt, pepper, olive oil and cheese.
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{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Ooooh! Yes! I’m posting homemade potato chips tomorrow.
I’ve grown lemon cukes before and enjoyed them, but they’re tricky to peel. Being round and all. I’ll try this with regular ones, if they ever decide to grow. (Most of what I planted three weeks ago is still just thinking about it.)
Thanks for the heads up guys! I hope I can manage to make something!
(I keep forgetting that it’s not strictly a stir-fry blog event… D’oh!!)
When I saw the title, I thought it was cucumbers sauteed in citrus… Imagine my surprise when I learned that was the name of the vegetable (er, fruit) itself! I even thought the first picture was of a few peeled lemons! Nice, refreshing recipe, looks great
Ooh, are you guys making tri-colored potatoes? I already made my dish, just gotta fit it into my posting schedule.
I always use walnuts in my pest since pine nuts are so expensive. Tastes just as good. I think I actually have lemon cucumber seeds, just gotta get around to planting them.
Wow, these are crazy! Would try growing them myself but suspect it’d be too cold here. Perhaps sometime when I get a greenhouse. Till then I’ll keep my eye out for them in the shops.
I remember the first time I tasted a lemon cucumber — it was a revelation! A friend had them from her garden, and I kept asking her, shamelessly, if I could have more. I would make a dressing with the lemon thyme from my garden, to heighten that citrus flavor, and the dish instantly became one of my favorite summer salads.
Those lemon cukes are adorable! I’d love to try growing them myself. I wonder if I can grow them on my balcony in the UK?
Great new find…what are the origins..Asian or an obscure European veggie?
I’ll be on the lookout…you guys are the “shit”, cutting-edge veggies! lol
Hi hi i am going to post a simple dish, whick i make almost thrice a week, Mash potato
My mom used to grow lemon cucumbers in our yard. I haven’t seen once since I was a kid! Thanks for updating this childhood favorite.
oh this is the first time i’ve seen this beauties…wish i could find some in the market too
i would love to try that salad with pesto you made..looks gorgeous and healthy!!
I’ve never seen a lemon cucumber before! How totally cool. I think I need to get googling now and see if I can get a plant for next years growing season!
Oh….must research potato dishes also!
Thanks for introducing me to a new veggie! Those are beautiful! And it’s certainly the time of year for pesto – I made vegan pesto this week with my basil that was getting unruly.
These are amazing looking and they sound quite tasty! I’m surprised I’ve never seen them anywhere, except for here!
Absolutely gorgeous looking. I’m very jealous.
OK, I am starting to think there isn’t a single vegetable or fruit that you don’t grow.. Why you even bother going to farmers markets I don’t know
Wow! I’ve never heard of lemon cucumbers before. Can you get the seeds through Fedco? I’m curious and now I have to check whether they’d do well in the not-so-temperate zone that is the Southern Tier of NY. Hmmmm… I’m off to check my Amish greenhouse up the road!
Thanks for the heads up on a fun new-to-me veg.
worc, i thank you for introducing me to these interesting little buggers! they sould like something i’d really enjoy growing and eating and bragging about to my friends!
Lemon cucumbers sounds really interesting. I will have to keep an eye out for them!
wow this melon look awesome and I can imagine hoe it taste with pesto! lovely!
Wow! I have never seen or heard of a lemon cucumber before! They look so pretty! Now that I’m on a garden roll, (thanks to you), I’ll have to see if I can find some to plant.
As always, your photos are stunning!
oh wow those cukes are so cute. My 2 year old loves cucumbers and have about 5 planted around the yard but nothing like this, I will have to try them next year.
They do look like gourds and have never seen them before. For sure they’re not growing in Canada – I’m sensing they need a certain type of soil to grow properly. They’re adorable – you can use them in a salad and decorate your table with them all at the same time – gorgeous.
Very cool looking cucumbers! And with our hot weather, who couldn’t do with another cool recipe?!
I’ve just finished writing up my WW:potatoes post. Just so I’m clear: I post my entry within the next two weeks and send you the link? That’s it?
Those cukes are adorable! Or maybe they’re beautiful? I can’t tell how big or small they are. So if they are little, they are adorable, if they are large, they are beautiful
And did I mention they look delicious?!?! And did I also mention that you guys rock the garden? When I come to visit you wonderful people, I am going to bring a tent and live in your backyard forever. I’ll pay rent… xxoo
I have never had pesto, but have been itching to try it for a while. This is the *fourth* post I’ve seen talking about it today. Definitely on my to do list for the weekend.
We don’t have a wok – I just use a big pan. Can I submit a yummy potato salad that I made for our faux camping trip?
Ooooooh! I just got a really unexpected treat that I had to share with you. A prolific gardener friend dropped by for the first time in months today. She brought me the extras that she had started from seed and been unable to fit in her garden: 10 varied heirloom tomato plants, a bell pepper plant, some thyme and… drumroll… two lemon cucumber plants!
Thanks to you two I didn’t have to say, “Lemon cucumber!? What’s that?”
These look incredible! Love them and now I’ll be looking and looking no doubt. Are they very perishable? Lemon cucumbers . . . I’m floored!
I just ate my first lemon cucumber..if you don’t let the skin too dark and pick them early..the skin is just as yummy..not nasty tasting like other cucumbers I’ve had. And no bitterness what so ever. I can’t wait for mine to just go crazy with fruit so I can make pickles and relish and can them…yum yum!!! I bought my 2 plants at my local hardware store…I didn’t know what they were and said what the heck..I’ll try and grow something new and different. Boy am I happy about it…I’ve been going into my garden every evening with a flashlight looking to see if I am getting any fruit from my lemon cucumber vine…watching them grow..finally I got brave and picked one tonight since I didn’t really know when to pick them..cut it open and took a big bite…yum yum!!! Now I can’t wait for the rest to ripen and grow!!! I get so impatient…lol
Wow, I did not know there are lemon cucumbers!!
My husband planted these cute lemon cucumbers in our backyard. They do sprawl all over the garden and are extremely prolific. I have a bunch on my counter right now and am madly peeling and slicing them for a greek style salad with red onions balsamic vinegar, olive oil and feta…yum! Oops! It’s 2:00…better go check the garden, again!
I just sliced and tasted my very 1st lemon cucumber and it tasted wonderful! I planted 3 plants on the side of my deck so they would have the chance to grow and crawl up the railing. it worked great!
lemon cucumbers are growing like wild in my little garden in North Idaho….incredible growth and very, very good to eat. I have them planted against a 6 foot wire fence they are reaching above the fence by a few inches…very prolific!
The price of pine nuts drove me to try sunflower seeds in my pesto–I never went back!
I found lemon cucumbers at my local vegetable stand in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada on 15 September 2009. I don’t know if they were local (Nova Scotian) or from farther away. I haven’t tried them yet, but will male a salad and feature the lemon cucumber sliced thinly on top. Paid 99 cents each, so they are a little pricey ($CDN).