Chilled Creamy Cucumber Soup

A chilled cucumber soup can lower your temperature like nothing else on hot summer day, especially when laced with mint.

Chill the soup for several hours and serve it in chilled bowls, garnished with mint.

I still remember the comment a friend made as he tasted a spoonful of cold cucumber soup that I’d served on a broiling summer day: “I just felt my temperature drop 10 degrees!”

There are several ways to make cucumber soup (the one my friend commented on was French), but they all are eye-openingly refreshing. The creamy soup recipe here has a Middle Eastern feel because of the yogurt (I’m told the recipe comes from Turkey).

Regarding the yogurt, I recommend buying a tart yogurt made from whole milk—I really like the Trader Joe’s brand of European Style Organic Yogurt, which has a more fluid texture and sharper flavor than typical store-bought yogurt.

You’ll need two types of fresh herbs: dill and mint. You’ll also need a blender or food processor.

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups whole milk yogurt

2. 2 cups chopped cucumbers (no need to remove the seeds or peel if using Persian or English cucumbers) (see note¹)

3. 1 clove fresh garlic, chopped

4. 3 tablespoons olive oil

5. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill leaves

6. 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves

7. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

8. Zest of 1 lemon

9. Salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon)

10. For garnish: fresh mint leaves

Ingredients: yogurt and chopped cucumbers, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, fresh dill and mint, fresh garlic, and salt

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix until smooth

2. Taste before removing from the blender, checking for salt and tartness—if too tart for your taste, blend in sugar, ½ teaspoon at a time, to balance the acid from the lemon and yogurt

3. Chill the soup for several hours and serve in chilled bowls, garnished with chopped or whole mint leaves

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Taste for salt and tartness before chilling.

1. Certain types of cucumbers, such as English or Persian, have thinner skins and smaller seeds than standard cucumbers. So with English and Persian, you can use the whole cucumber. For standard cucumbers, the type you may grow in your garden, you may want to peel them if the peels seem thick and bitter and remove the seeds if they seem large and tough.