The latest fruit to be busted masquerading as a vegetable is this chilled-out green giant. Far from claiming kin to lettuce and carrots, cukes are actually pollinated by honeybees. Part of the ruse stems from our practice of eating them unripe-aka green-because when they turn yellow, they become bitter and sour.

Recipe
Death Proof Cocktail
By Wendy McGuinness, Chambar, Vancouver

3, ½-inch slices of cucumber, plus more for  
garnish
1 sprig cilantro
1 oz gin
1 oz sake
½ oz green chartreuse
15 ml freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
15 ml simple syrup
1½ oz apple juice
Dash egg white

In a cocktail shaker, muddle cucumber pieces and cilantro. Add remaining
ingredients and shake vigorously until liquid is a velvety texture.
Fine-strain into a champagne saucer and garnish with a cucumber slice and a line of cracked pepper. Makes 1 cocktail.

[Editor’s note: Neither Western Living nor Chambar warrants that drinking this cocktail will, in fact, render you "death proof," though we are willing to testify to its other, powerful effects.]

Cucumber and Citrus Salad
By chef Kyle Groves, Catch, Calgary
1 cucumber
1 grapefruit
2 oranges
1 oz pickled ginger

Peel and segment grapefruit and oranges and place in a bowl. Peel cucumber and quarter lengthwise. Remove the seeds and then slice on an angle. Slices should be 1/4-inch thick.
Mix cucumber and citrus together, then add roughly chopped pickled ginger. Mix well and serve.
Serves 4.