As chef Alice Waters warns in her book, “Chez Panisse Vegetables," when it comes to cucumber salads, "Cucumbers… may give up too much water and dilute the flavor of the dish."

If you want to dress your cucumbers in advance or use them in a sauce and yield a salad that's not bland and soggy but tasty and crunchy, Waters suggests starting with thin slices.

Then, to force extra moisture out of the slices, put them in a colander, sprinkle them with a bit of salt, and let them sit for 10 minutes before squeezing them with paper towels.

Some cucumbers may need up to 30 minutes to respond to the salt treatment. For every pound of cucumbers, use a teaspoon of kosher or any other kind of salt, excluding table salt.

That’s because table salt has additives that can affect the taste. A mixture of equal parts salt and sugar will have the same straining effect, but it can make your salad sweet.

Try layering the cucumber slices in the colander, salting one layer before adding another on top. This will help ensure each and every slice gets coated with salt.