THE CHINESE CUCURBITS - Growing Chinese Vegetables in Your Own Backyard - page 36

CULINARY USES
Pickling melons can be used in any standard pickle recipe. Don't limit yourself to
sweet pickles; they make an unusual and delicious sour pickle. They take only a week
in your refrigerator to reach the fully pickled stage. Or pickle like pearl onions in salt,
vinegar, sugar, and chilis. These pickles take three months. If you can't wait that long,
some Asian pickle recipes are ready to eat in just 24 hours.
Start with the shorter, simpler recipes, then work up to more elaborate ones. No
pickle recipe is really complicated; some are a little lengthy, but most of that time is
spent waiting for the pickles to mature. The hardest part of the pickle maker's job is
having the patience to wait until the pickles are ready to eat.
MELON SOUPS . While this melon is grown primarily for pickling, it also can be cooked
and eaten as a vegetable. Pickling melon has a particular affinity for seafood and makes
a delicious fish soup. Simmer melon chunks in fish stock seasoned with soy sauce,
sugar, and a little rice vinegar, until the melon is tender. Serve with a garnish of thinly
sliced scallions as a starter to either an American or a Japanese meal. For a more filling
soup, add chunks of cod.
Asian Cucumber
QING GUA, HUANG GUA, TSENG KWA, WONG GUA
Cucumis sativus
(color photo, page x)
If you've ever grown cucumbers, you already know they are one of the easiest and most
satisfying crops. I think cucumbers are great for children's gardens because they grow
with such abandon and produce in such tremendous quantities. Where space is a prob-
lem, grow cucumbers up a fence or trellis; then the room they take up is air rather than
ground space, and even a modest garden like mine can accommodate a number of dif-
ferent kinds. Now that I've discovered Asian cucumbers, I wonder why I took so long to
try them.