Cucamelons

My wife is starting to get excited at the prospect of planting the garden. In January the seed catalogs start to pour in and by this time of year an entire plan has taken shape. Last year, in one of her seed catalogs, I found a veggie called a cucamelon. It is a small round orb, about the size of a grape tomato. The skin is green striped and looks a lot like a watermelon. When you bite into it, it is more like a cucumber in texture and tastes like a cucumber dipped in lime juice.

My wife ordered and grew them for me. They were prolific, to say the least. they came up right after the chard and died off in the fall when the only thing left was.....more chard. They are refreshing, easy to grow and to pick. I ate them out of hand for most of the summer. Those that did make it into the house I used in this salad, one of my favorite of the summer.

Cucamelon Salad
1 pint cucamelons, cut in half
1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup red onion, sm. dice
1/2 cup rough chopped parsley
2 cups mixed greens
1 lemon, cut in half and juiced over the salad
4T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

If I have time to do so, I like to combine everything but the parsley and greens and let it marinate for an hour or two before tossing.