Summer Persian Cucumbers

Today's stressful and heartbreaking visit to Haymarket to not find cilantro--I had to be consoled.

Gorgeous, fresh, Persian cucumbers. $1.00 got me 15. 15 restaurant-or-higher-quality ones.

I've had Persian cucumbers before. I've had them in every season but summer. Big mistake. I've had summer cucumbers before. Straight from Mrs. B's garden. But not Persian ones.

These have changed my idea of what a cucumber can be. And I already liked every breed of cucumber I've ever had.

I ate four plain.

I have decided I need them in everything. So here's my first odd-esque usage of them. I know it's been done before. This came out of my head, but now that I've already published this post, I seem that my idea is not very original. Whatever.

East Meets West Persian Cucumber Guacamole

3 Persian cucumbers, diced

1 avocado, diced

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup red onion, finely diced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 serrano pepper, finely diced

sea salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and devour immediately. I guess you could wait for the flavors to meld, but we're talking guacamole.

Cilantro at the Bat

It seemed there was no cilantro in Boston all week. Not even slimy, rotting, maybe I can salvage 3 or 4 leaves?, undersized bunches. The theme continued last night as I rolled into Whole Foods at 8:30 or so, desperation making me willing to pay an assumed $3.99 for a small quantity. There wasn't any in the store. Not even in the proverbial back. I checked every day this week.

The cilantro I had been growing on my windowsill died. So did a subsequent seeding. And then a subsequent planting of whole plants with roots.

Usually when I can't find an ingredient I adapt. But my very specific and inflexible plans for the fresh tomatillos included in this week's CSA delivery required it.

It wasn't in any supermercados, mercados, or bodegas; it wasn't in Chinatown or in Super 88; It wasn't in Shalimar. Not in Shaw's, Stah Mahkit, or Stop and Shop. Not in Harvest, not in Whole Foods. I was starting to think that I should query the cooks/artists at India Quality. Or ask at Ana's Taqueria.

I knew it had to be somewhere. I even checked the USDA Herb Report this morning to verify that it existed somewhere in the greater Boston area. (Yes, I am that nuts.) So it was definitely being traded across the harbor. Since it's Friday, after physical therapy, I went to Haymarket, the liquidator of what's unsold at the market at week's end to see. Nobody had it. Not one vendor. The herb guy wasn't even there. The other vendors that usually offer herbs were selling sad-looking bunches of rosemary, thyme, and parsley, and okay-looking basil. I started to suspect that the heat had done herbs in for the week.

I was still without cilantro. I shuffled back to Whole Foods for my fifth visit this week. For some reason, the whole walk was punctuated by my thinking, "There is no joy in Mudville. There is no cilantro in Boston."

Today they had it--organic! in large bunches!--for $1.69, a pleasant surprise. I realize that Californians are probably laughing at the price that I think was a steal, but produce is much more expensive on the East Coast, and produce in Boston is more expensive than produce in New York City. Not generally, just is. Local produce too, conventional and organic, industrially farmed and not. (Interestingly enough, the wholesale markets in both cities are owned by the same company, but obviously Boston is a smaller market that is more difficult to access by air, land, sea, and rail than New York, not that it's an excuse for a TWENTY TO FOUR HUNDRED PERCENT difference in prices at the retail level, since wholesale prices aren't that different between the two, but I digress.)

So yeah, I got my cilantro.

The dirty secret.

That's right, in a previous post I referred to my $1.00 Haymarket cauliflower. You're probably thinking one of two things:

1. Oooh, Haymarket, I don't know. What about eating fresh and local?

2. HOLY CRAP, $1.00 cauliflower?!

Why I don't feel guilty about buying produce at Haymarket:

The major reasons are availability and price. At this time of year farmers' markets in Boston aren't open yet and my CSA doesn't start until the first week of June. Most supermarket chains do not stock a terrible amount of local produce at this time of year.

The produce at Haymarket comes from the wholesale distributors across the hahbah in Chelsea. The vendors at Haymarket buy cases of produce rejected or passed up by restaurants and grocery stores at ridiculously reduced prices. Why does it get rejected? A whole case is often rejected because of a cosmetic blemish on one or two items. Or the contents are too near to ripeness to satisfy a supermarket's model of leaving produce out for 2 weeks or more. Maybe it "fell off a truck". The melons might be too small or oddly shaped to be sold in a conventional store. Or maybe a chef changed their mind about a produce order when it arrived at the restaurant late.

What you find at Haymarket is a mixed bag, but if you know how to select produce, you're going to go home with a ton of food for very little cash (only, sweetie). Some vendors won't let you touch the merchandise and some will. I tend to avoid those that don't let me pick (though when five pounds of sweet potatoes or six cucumbers are a dollar, I don't mind getting a few bad ones). Organic food can be found, and fresh herbs that you're not growing at home are a steal. I wash everything as soon as I get home and refrigerate what is appropriate to refrigerate and most of it lasts me at least 5 days.

If it doesn't go to Haymarket, it's probably going to get thrown out by the distributor. So I like to think of it as reducing food waste, even if that's not entirely accurate. Maybe it gets canned; I like to think it does.

Besides, given the option, I think it's definitely better for me to be eating fruits and vegetables than something that comes from a box on a supermarket shelf.

Last Friday's take:

1 cucumber

1 head cauliflower

1 bunch mint (which I used for tabbouleh along with some parsley I had happily surviving in a glass of water from the previous week, then I made some iced tea with mint to accompany my pseudo-Moroccan food)

2 pounds of bananas (I don't live in Hawaii and don't see myself getting these locally)

5 bulbs of garlic (not from China)

5 limes

1 eggplant

2 navel oranges

2 cantaloupes; 1 small, 1 oddly shaped, still not ripe even now.

All for $7.00, probably less if I had gone on Saturday instead.

Even if you're totally against the idea of this market, it's a great place to go for people watching, just don't get in the way! The variety of languages I hear makes me miss New York.