Hello to another summer harvest: Hmong cucumbers. Hmong cucumbers are a special type of cucumber grown by the Hmong people. It has a higher water content and can grow as big as a person’s thigh. So crazy huh!? The more the cucumber ages, the more yellow and sour it is inside. The younger cucumbers are a little more sweeter and has a pretty light green color to it. Due to their high water content, we mostly like to eat it as is or as a drink. Today, I’ll show you a simple cucumber water that we Hmong’s love to have during a hot summer day or to just accompany a meal along with rice and some meat. It’s simply cucumber, water, sugar, and ice. Super easy as long as you can get a hold of Hmong cucumbers. If you can’t find any, you can use any kind of cucumber you desire. So give it a try and let me know what kind of meat you like to pair it. 🙂 Happy Cooking!
Hmong cucumbers
These two are younger cucumbers. The seeds are still soft to eat and the flesh is slightly sweet. 
This one is on the larger size. You can see stretch-marks already starting to form. This one will be yellow on the inside when it gets picked. If you pick it now, it would be a great one to scrape and mixed with water and be put in individual ziplock bags to be put in the freezer for later consumption. It’s also a good one to save and keep for seeding.
It’s so big! Look how big it is already compared to my hands.
We must protect the cucumber! haha My uncle put a stool over it so people don’t step on it. Very clever 🙂
Turning it into a drink. Using a spoon to scrape down the flesh. Add a little sugar, ice, water and it’s good to go! 🙂 
Drink as is with more ice or…
Eat it over rice and some meat! I love mine with smoked beef or any beef jerky. I loved it as a kid and still love it till this day. A classic Hmong meal and it’s SO GOOD!!!!
Recipe for Smoked Beef here: https://chawjcreations.com/2019/09/05/nqaj-nyuj-qhaa-zum-shredded-smoked-beef-w-tomatoes-and-herbs/
Awesome cutting board by Spoons and Beyond. Check out their instagram and Etsy shop here:
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/spoonsandbeyond/
ETSY: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SpoonsAndBeyond
Happy Cooking!
-CHawjCreations
Ingredients
- 2 Hmong cucumbers (or cucumbers of your choice [you may have to use more if they're small] )
- Water to cover ( I used around 5-6 cups)
- Sugar to your liking (I used around 5 spoonful)
- Ice
- ---To eat it with---
- Steamed rice
- Smoked beef or beef jerky
- Any grilled meat of your choice
Instructions
1) Wash the cucumbers. Cut them in half. If you are using a fairly young cucumber, you can keep the seeds since they are still soft to eat or if you just don't like the seeds, scrape it out. If you are using an older cucumber you can scrape out the seeds since they are more rough. With the spoon, scrape out the cucumber flesh over a bowl until all of it gone.
2) Add in cold water just enough to cover the scraped cucumbers or more if you like. Add sugar to taste and ice to chill it. Taste and serve over more ice or over steamed rice along with any grilled meat. I love mine with smoked beef. SOOOO GOOD! And enjoy! So easy! 🙂
-CHawjCreations
Notes
If you can't find Hmong cucumbers, you can use any cucumber of your choice. You may need to adjust the sugar/water ratio depending on the size.
