You know that moment when you think you’ve invented/discovered something? Quickly, words, imagines and thoughts flash through your mind and you confirm “I’ve never seen this before!”. You’re excited, you think you’re onto something and then you quickly do a Google search.
Your heart plops on the floor and you realize there are approximately 9,500,000 results for “Candied Cucumbers”. You’re disappointed and the dream of your book deal and cooking show all about Cucumbers on the Food Network dissipate.
But I digress. Summer Fest is here and this week is graced by, you guessed it, Cucumbers! Join in the fun by following the Twitter hashtag #cookingwith and sharing with us your favorite ways to eat cucumbers! Here, I decided to showcase two main ingredients: Cucumbers and Hibiscus. Because as you know, Hibiscus makes everything sexier.
Hibiscus Candied Cucumbers
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried hibiscus flowers
1 large cucumber
Method
- In small sauce pan, stir water and sugar together and simmer until all the sugar dissolves.
- While the syrup simmers, thinly slice cucumbers and drop into the syrup, as well as dried hibiscus.
- Poach for 10 minutes.
- Remove cucumbers from syrup and place on silicone baking sheet. Dehydrate in low temperature oven or dehydrator until they become smooth to the touch.
- Reserve hibiscus flavored syrup for future cocktail making or as sweetener for lemonade.
Uses for Candied Cucumbers
- Drop into vodka tonics as garnish.
- Set out small plates of it with chic toothpicks and serve as a bar snack sprinkled with salt flakes and red pepper flakes.
- Add to your water to improve flavor and beat the heat! Hydration can also be flavor packed!
- Juice half a pineapple, a few celery stalks and 1/4 cup of hibiscus candied cucumbers; a refreshing summer drink!
Need more Cucumber Inspiration? Check out these links from the Summer Fest!
The Sensitive Epicure: Tzatziki with Grilled Gluten-Free Pitas and Fresh Cucumbers and Peppers
A Way to Garden: Cucumber-Growing Q&A and the Best Pickles
Organic cucumbers are one of this world tasty. I get them from a local organic grocery store. They are local and omg yummy
What a stunning photo and tasty recipe! Oh and I really feel the identical way about making recipes
How can we Sell WOW Gold through the internet? We must make it safe and trust those people who buy our’s products, and we can Sell Gold of other games.