Pages

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Covid-19 Man Shopping > Cucumber






Cucumber
( Curucumis sativus )

Cucumber / Timun ( 青瓜 / 黄瓜 ) is a very common fruit vegetable.  Its very unlikely to get it wrong. 

It can be eaten raw, with nasi lemak, which is incomplete without it.  It is often used in rojak, acar or pickled ( check out : cucumber-salad-in-soy-sauce , pickled cucumber Hakka-style  )  Nevertheless, it is cooked together with a wide variant of other ingredients.  ( stir-fried-cucumber )



Depending on variety, cucumber may have a mild melon aroma, resulting from unsaturated aldehydes such as (E,Z)-nona-2,6-dienal, and the cis- and trans- isomers of 2-nonenal.  The slightly bitter taste of cucumber rind results from cucurbitacins.



Matured ( old ) cucumber ( 老黄瓜) is used primarily in Chinese cooking, especially in stewing soup. ( read old-cucumber-soup )

Japanese cultivar of cucumber is used in cucumber ( 日本小青瓜 ).  it is longer, slender and darker green in colour.  It has mild taste, crunchy, lesser seeds and thus widely used as salad. 




Looks like cucumber, sounds like cucumber, but not cucumber ......


Labu Air / Bottle Gourd
Lagenaria siceraria
Bottle gourd ( 瓠子 / 节瓜 ) have a variety of shapes and sizes.  This particular variety has cylindrical shapes, almost similar to a cucumber, only that it’s slightly lighter in colour shorter and fatter.  For untrained eyes, it may be mistakenly taken as a cucumter !

Bottle gourd is cultivated by human since beginning of time.  It was believed to be originated from Africa, carried to Asia and Europe via human migration and trade.

It is usually consumed cooked – stir-fry or soup.

Raw bottle gourd contains cucurbitacins that are cytotoxic at high concentrations.  Tetracyclic triterpenoid which caused the bitter taste, could cause stomach ulcers.  Thus it is not recommended to consume bottle gourd raw or juiced.



Timun Bulu / Labu Bulu
Benincasa hispida var hispida
Timun bulu / Labu bulu  毛瓜 )is a variety of Benincasa hispida ( 葫芦 ).

It looks like a furry cucumber, but with slight different pattern on the skin.  They are sweet and succulent, almost similar to zucchini.


It is best cooked lightly : steamed or stir-fried,  or soup.




0 comments:

Post a Comment