It’s late summer. Generally cucumbers are very cheap at this time of year. Like maybe 80 cents each, or even 2 for a buck. I’d buy up a whole lot and indulge in an orgy of pickle making.
But right now they’re $2 apiece!
I don’t get it. Cucumbers are annuals, so it’s not like the Cucumber Trees got frosted and it’ll take five years for new ones to get to bearing size.
Why so pricey?
You’d probably get a better response if we knew where you’re shopping.
For what it’s worth, I paid 39 cents apiece today in Chicago for cucumbers that are a little larger than ideal, but not too bad. I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to cucumber prices from year to year, but that seems reasonable for this area.
Many have been repurposed due to the popularity of 50 Shades of Gray.
That was a great concert.
it was a hot (3rd hottest on record) and drought or very dry year (over most of the nation) in much of the USA. it affected many crops adversely.
There may be something to this. I went to the farmers market and a fruit/veg stand lately and all the locally produced cucumbers were a bit pale and extremely seedy. I have no cite for this but in the PNW of the US all my sources for gardening say it has been the worst year they have seen for powdery white mildew. In Portland we haven’t gotten rain for months, yet it still persists.
Well whatever it was, it wasn’t affecting my area. My farmshare was overloaded with cucumbers. Seriously, I had no idea what to do with so many cucumbers. Five to ten every week. As vegetables go they aren’t very exciting. (um… Rand Rover’s comment aside…) You can’t freeze them or dehydrate them and the sort we had aren’t great for pickles. So. Many. Cucumbers.
However the farm is on Long Island, which was not at all in drought conditions this year. Last year a number of crops were destroyed by driving rain and hurricanes, so I’m not complaining.
I’ve become a rabid fan of cucumber salads this summer. Chopped cucumbers, chopped tomatoes, sliced sweet peppers and a little red onion or scallions, salt, pepper and “balsamic” vinegar (I use “of Modina” 'cause I can’t afford the real stuff, and I like the fake stuff just fine) and just the teensiest sprinkle of olive oil…yum! Who needs lettuce? (Lettuce has been pretty pricey here this year.)
Oh I loved chopped cucumber salads! I often make a “shopska”, which is a traditional bulgarian salad, with tomatoes, cucumbers, and finely diced onion, dressed with a little vinegar and grated feta cheese. But you can’t believe how you’d want to puke at the sight of a cucumber, if you’ve been eating cucumber salad for 5 weeks straight. And still wondering what they hell you’re supposed to do with all these cucumbers (for the record, my gazpacho was a disapointment. Did you know it tastes like cucumbers?).
Ugh. Fucking cucumbers.
Wonder if you can grate 'em and hide 'em in pasta sauce like you can zucchini. If so, at least you could freeze the prepared pasta sauce…or even grate the cucumbers and freeze the cucumber goo for later pasta sauce spiking?
I’m going with the drought explanation myself even though I did have a fairly huge crop and only watered twice this summer.