Ever need inspiration for an item in your veg box, but bored with your cookbooks and Google a bit overwhelming? We can recommend a gem of a book – The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit, a beautifully written, indexed guide to flavour combinations. Along with recipes and anecdotes, it has fascinating detail on why certain food pairings please the palate. Today, cucumber was the target: its flavour friends include onion, capers, anise, avocado, cumin, dill, mint, peanut, strawberry, melon and fish.

Rustle up an Indian cucumber and peanut salad – combine peeled, diced cucumber with roasted crushed peanuts, finely chopped fresh green chilli and grated coconut. Dress with lemon juice, salt, sugar and cumin.

Or try a cucumber and dill sauce – recipe below: