Like many other vegetables in the late 20th and early 21st century, you can readily buy these 365 days a year. Which is why we take cucumbers for granted, barely noticing their taste much of the time and mindlessly slicing them into salad or using them as vehicles for conveying sour cream–onion dip at parties.

But late summer is when they come into their own in Maine. And like so many other fruits and vegetables, a seasonal cucumber – juicy, crunchy and cooling – almost seems a different animal from its unseasonal supermarket counterpart.

With August cucumbers, I usually am firmly in the least-done-the-better camp, slicing them thickly (no need to peel, since farmers market cukes won’t be coated in preservative food wax), drizzling them with excellent olive oil, squeezing a fresh lemon over the lot, and sprinkling them with good salt and pepper. Adding a handful of shredded basil or mint and some crumbled feta is about as fancy as I get with this.

If you’re feeling slightly – just slightly – more ambitious, try them warm. They’re wonderful, and truthfully not a whole different from the preceding treatment: Peel a cucumber or two. Slice in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scrape out and discard the seeds, then cut the flesh into 1/2-inch crescents. Melt a little butter in a sauté pan. When it sizzles, add the cucumber crescents. Cook to heat through, about 2 minutes. Squeeze a little lemon into the pan, salt and pepper the cukes, toss for less than a minute more. Sprinkle with chopped basil, mint or cilantro. Savor summer. Eat warm.

– PEGGY GRODINSKY

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