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Featured Food: Cucumber

Cucumbers are cool and crisp vegetables that are easily incorporated into a variety of dishes. Cucumbers are made of 95% water and therefore make the perfect snack on a hot summer day. In addition to its ability to improve hydration, this vegetable contains key nutrients like fiber and Vitamin K to support health. Dietary fiber aids in weight management and promotes gut health. Vitamin K assists with blood clotting and is important for bone health. Cucumbers come from the Cucurbitaceae family, the same plant family that pumpkin, squash, and melon come from. The cucumber plant is likely to have originated in South Asia over 3000 years ago. Technically, cucumbers are botanically labeled as fruits because they grow from flowers and contain seeds. However, they are classified as vegetables in child nutrition programs and in the culinary realm.

Featured Recipe: Vegetable Wrap

Makes 50 servings.

Instructions:

1. See Ranch Dressing USDA Recipe for Schools for recipe ingredients and directions.
   Set ranch aside for step 3. 
2. Combine ranch dressing, lettuce, bell peppers, onions, carrots, cucumbers, and cheese (optional) in a large bowl. Stir well and set aside for step 6. 
3. Critical Control point: Cool to 41 ̊F or lower within 4 hours.

National School Lunch Program Crediting Information:
1/8 cup red/orange vegetable, ¼ cup other vegetable. 1/8 cup additional vegetable, 1 oz equivalent grain

Notes:
Reduce salt in ranch recipe to 1 tsp per 23 servings
Cooking Process #1: No Cook
This recipe can be doubled to yield 100 servings. See details online by clicking the
link.

Snacks and Sides to Try Cucumber Finger Sandwiches Watermelon Cucumber Feta Salad Cucumber Slices and Hummus

Want to be featured in the next quarterly newsletter and on Ohio's Farm to School Websites? Share your F2S success stories with us! Submit your F2S Success Story here! 

Featured Activity

In collaboration with the State Library of Ohio, a children’s book list was created to promote the Cucumber Crunch. Review these cucumber and pickle-themed books for young readers. Use this map to find local public libraries in Ohio to check out one of the featured books.

From Garden to Pickle by Penelope Nelson

Pickles, Please! A Dilly of a Book by Andy Myer

The Big Cucumber by Julie Wood

I Hear a Pickle (and Smell, See, Touch, and Taste It, Too!) by Rachel Isadora

Pandas Love Pickles by Liz Lynch

Mrs. Fickle's Pickles by Lori Ries

Pickle Party! by Ferank Berrios

Pickles to Pittsburgh: the Sequel to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett; illustrated by Ron Barret

Featured Resources

Ohio Produce Chart 

The Ohio Produce Availability Chart
is a useful resource to determine what months specific produce will be in season. This chart also includes important information about produce chart. It is important to note differences in climate between southern and northern Ohio may affect harvest dates.

The Edible Schoolyard Project
The Edible Schoolyard Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing public school education with the use of school gardens, kitchens, and cafeterias. Their website features a variety of lesson plans for learning at school or at home. Recorded training videos on edible education programming, networking, resource sharing and more are also available.

Featured Sponsor

Nightingale Montessori

Nightingale Montessori School in Springfield, Ohio has been a part of the Springfield community for forty years. Head chef, Stephanie Woodward, and Science teacher, Jayne Woodward, share that their farm-to-school program began with small, raised bed gardens and has evolved into a system of food production that is also supporting the native ecology. As 2020 recipients of the Farm to School, F2S grant, Nightingale Montessori is excited to offer community outreach and education in their new kitchen.

Students maintain 115 garden and wildlife beds on site. Students use permaculture principles to grow a wide variety of nutrient-diverse foods. All ages are invited to participate in their culinary and ecology programs. Children can learn and develop hands-on skills, menu development and create lessons and demonstrations to share with their peers. When asked what she enjoys about the program, 9 year-old Amyah says, “I like to make food and harvest ingredients to make food to make people happy.”

In addition to school gardens, Nightingale Montessori engages in local procurement. They participate in the Ohio Valley Food Connection, a cooperative that supports local farmers and is a hub for consumers to find local produce. Field trips to local producers are also a staple of their farm to school program. Students have visited local farms, such as Bowman Landes, and pick-your-own produce farms, like Champaign Berry Farm. Stephanie and Jayne’s advice for sponsors interested in getting involved in Farm to School: “Start in your community. Go to your local farm markets, meet people, network and utilize the resources provided by the USDA and childhood nutrition programs. Reach out to our team for more information about our community and garden outreach programs.” Contact: jwoodward@nightingaleschool.org or swoodward@nightingaleschool.org for more information on their program.