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Preparing cucumbers for tzatziki

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dpappas87

dpappas87

Active member
The last time I made tzatziki, I forgot to do this and the texture was very off. So this is a friendly reminder to all of you who make this. I wish I took pics because it was so gross!

I usually chop or grate the cucumbers and then add them to a strainer with some salt and let them drain out. Then I put them in a towel and squeeze the rest of the juice out. I cut corners and just did the strainer part. It wasn't enough.

How do you all prep your cucumbers for tzatziki?
 
dpappas87 said:
The last time I made tzatziki, I forgot to do this and the texture was very off. So this is a friendly reminder to all of you who make this. I wish I took pics because it was so gross!

I usually chop or grate the cucumbers and then add them to a strainer with some salt and let them drain out. Then I put them in a towel and squeeze the rest of the juice out. I cut corners and just did the strainer part. It wasn't enough.

How do you all prep your cucumbers for tzatziki?
Click to expand...
I didn’t know about salting them, I just grate them, put them in a tea towel and squeeze them as hard as I can. I save the juice to drink, it’s nice with a drop of gin cocktail 🍸😉
 
Think salting is important as it draws out water and cucumbers are very watery. I peel and seed them and salt to draw out water.
 
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dpappas87 said:
The last time I made tzatziki, I forgot to do this and the texture was very off. So this is a friendly reminder to all of you who make this. I wish I took pics because it was so gross!

I usually chop or grate the cucumbers and then add them to a strainer with some salt and let them drain out. Then I put them in a towel and squeeze the rest of the juice out. I cut corners and just did the strainer part. It wasn't enough.

How do you all prep your cucumbers for tzatziki?
Click to expand...
I actually prefer it on the “soupy” side and serve it with croutons, à la Gazpacho.
 
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The


dpappas87 said:
The last time I made tzatziki, I forgot to do this and the texture was very off. So this is a friendly reminder to all of you who make this. I wish I took pics because it was so gross!

I usually chop or grate the cucumbers and then add them to a strainer with some salt and let them drain out. Then I put them in a towel and squeeze the rest of the juice out. I cut corners and just did the strainer part. It wasn't enough.

How do you all prep your cucumbers for tzatziki?
Click to expand...

Both these methods of extracting the water from the cucumber is great. The objective here is the extract as much of the moisture, from the cucumber so it won’t dilute the rich thick greek yogurt. On the other hand you don’t want your greek yogurt to be to to thick either. But you can play around with the thickness of your yogurt (as well as taste) with the addition of olive oil and vinegar and with how much you strained your cucumber.
With that being said, I use the method of grating and squeezing the cucumber ant not salting. I feel that I have more control over the amount of salt that ends up in the tsatsiki.
I know lots of people that like their tzatziki being on the thinner consistency, and I had tzatziki where the yogurt was so thick that it was like you were eating frosting. My preference is somewhere in between.
 
dpappas87 said:
The last time I made tzatziki, I forgot to do this and the texture was very off. So this is a friendly reminder to all of you who make this. I wish I took pics because it was so gross!

I usually chop or grate the cucumbers and then add them to a strainer with some salt and let them drain out. Then I put them in a towel and squeeze the rest of the juice out. I cut corners and just did the strainer part. It wasn't enough.

How do you all prep your cucumbers for tzatziki?
Click to expand...
I salt them and put them in a towel and squeeze them out. I put the juice in a cup and add it to smoothies.
 
I wanted to chime in to say that I have been taking the extra step of prepping the cucumbers and I am so much happier with the results! Thanks guys.
 
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