How to keep cucumbers fresh longer at home?

The most proven and most original methods to preserve the freshness of cucumbers

Picked cucumbers wither very quickly. A cucumber picked just a couple of hours ago is no longer the same fragrant cucumber that was just found in the garden. And if you leave the cucumbers on the table for just a day, the moisture will evaporate from them, the skin of the cucumbers will become less elastic, and their fresh taste will not be as bright.

How to keep cucumbers fresh longer at home? What tricks will help somehow extend the freshness of cucumbers? How do people who grow them in large quantities and experienced housewives solve these issues? You will find answers to these questions in our article.

How to keep cucumbers fresh - preparing vegetables for storage

In order for cucumbers to last longer, there is no need to pick off the flowers at their tips, unless, of course, these flowers are not yet completely dry and do not fall off on their own. The tails should also not be cut too short. More precisely, there is no need to leave them long either, but it is the tail itself that should be broken off, and not cut off along with part of the cucumber. Try to collect and rearrange the cucumbers carefully to avoid scratches or other damage to their surface.

Cucumbers that can stay fresh for a long time

But you shouldn’t cut cucumbers as much as in the next photo. It is important to carry out such manipulation with them before salting, so that they are better salted and less dirt remains on them. But you won’t be able to keep cucumbers fresh in this form. As for the soil that happens on cucumbers, there is no need to wash it off thoroughly so as not to cause mechanical damage. It is better to shake it off with your hand and, if necessary, only rinse lightly with water.

If you want to preserve cucumbers, do not trim their tails too much.

Selection of fruits for storage

The main requirement for selecting greens for long-term preservation is freshness. They take vegetables only collected from the garden.

Those that have already been lying around for some time or have been transported over long distances are not suitable. When purchasing, the appearance of the entire batch of cucumbers is assessed, not individual specimens. It is not recommended to select the best ones among substandard ones: they will quickly deteriorate.

They take vegetables only collected from the garden

Choose elastic cucumbers, with strong peel, without external damage . These are usually vegetables grown in open ground rather than in a greenhouse. Before storing the fruits, do not wash them, otherwise they will begin to rot prematurely.

Good keeping quality is inherent in the following varieties:

• Sadko.
• Parade.
• Bush.
• Unworn.
• Competitor.

The following varieties are suitable for pickling:

• Zozulya.
• Voronezh.
• Bush.
• Pickle F1.
• Crisp.

Cucumbers of these varieties are small in size (up to 16 cm in length), with shiny thin skin, lumpy, sometimes with spines.

The pulp of the fruit is dense, without voids, and the peel is dark green in color.

Choose elastic cucumbers, with strong peel, without external damage

Which cucumbers are not suitable for storage?

It is not recommended to try to preserve fruits:

• too watery;
• with thin skin;
• overgrown, beginning to turn yellow;
• early-ripening greenhouse-type varieties used for preparing salads.

How to keep cucumbers fresh longer in an apartment?

People who are passionate about gardening and grow cucumbers for sale in small and even very large quantities are familiar with the problem of how to keep cucumbers fresh firsthand. And here are the simple and accessible methods for preserving cucumbers that they use.

• Wet paper and spray water

Take the fruit box. Such containers are most advantageous for storing cucumbers, because they have holes in them, and the cucumbers inside will “breathe.” If you don’t have a lot of cucumbers, it’s still better to choose some kind of plastic basket with lattice walls as a container.

Storing and transporting cucumbers in a fruit box

Place two A4 printer sheets and spray them with water from a spray bottle.

IMPORTANT: To keep cucumbers fresh, do not use newspapers, pages from books, or pages covered in ink. Ink inscriptions can leave imprints on cucumbers, and the paint used in printing houses is generally very harmful, and even poisonous.

Theoretically, instead of paper, you can transfer the cucumbers with a cloth that holds water well, or you can do the same with several layers of gauze . But remember, if you then put the box on a cellar shelf where there is dampness or in the refrigerator, the fabric will absorb all the odors. And there is little pleasant in this. So, when the paper is already at the bottom of the drawer, place two layers of cucumbers on top of it.

Wet paper will help keep cucumbers fresh.

Place a layer of paper every 2 layers of cucumbers. It is better to wet the paper on both sides: put it on the sheets, spray it with a spray bottle, then turn it over and spray it again.

Wet paper in a box with cucumbers

You also need to put paper on the top of the box. Thanks to this method, it will be possible to keep cucumbers fresh for up to 7 days, and for the first 2-3 days they will not even lose their presentation. The basket or box with fruits is placed in a cool place: in the cellar or on the refrigerator shelf. But know that cucumbers do not like places near the freezer and temperatures close to zero. The best place for them is as far as possible from the freezer, and the optimal storage temperature for cucumbers is plus 6 degrees.

What varieties of cucumbers store best?

The shelf life of cucumbers largely depends on the variety you grow, so it is important to take this criterion into account when planting vegetables.

How to keep cucumbers fresh - a bouquet of cucumbers

The bouquet in our next photo is more decorative than practical. But the idea is quite workable. If you are still wondering how to keep cucumbers fresh longer at home, for example, by bringing them from your dacha to your apartment, use our next technology. And the cucumbers will remain fresh for 4-5 days.

• Choose cucumbers with thick and still fresh tails.
• Do not pick the fruits, but carefully cut them with a sharp knife.
• Make oblique cuts at a 45-degree angle and leave tails longer than a centimeter.
• When the cucumbers are cut, immediately place them in water.
• Pack them tightly, tails down, into a saucepan or jar for preservation.
• Pour in just a little water. Try to have only cucumber tails in it.
• Be sure to change the water every 2 days , or better yet, every day.

A “bouquet” of cucumbers can be supplemented with dill, parsley or lettuce. The main thing is not to forget to tear off the lower leaves of the greens.

Place cucumbers in water like flowers, make a bouquet with parsley, dill or salad

Cucumbers inside cabbage - an original method for storing cucumbers

Are you looking for tips on how to keep cucumbers fresh longer by growing them in your dacha, and are you wondering how to make cucumbers last for six months? Then you'll love our next original method for experimental gardeners! However, everything needs to be taken care of in advance.

• Cucumbers should be planted with cabbage in the same bed.
• When the cabbage starts to “tie its head,” insert small cucumbers into the cabbage leaves, which are already tightly tied into the head.
• Wait 5-7 days and tear off the tail.
• Let the cabbage remain in the garden until ripe.
• They say that these cucumbers, inside a head of cabbage, remain fresh, even until the New Year holidays.

According to rumors, this method of storing vegetables together was discovered completely by accident. One owner's cucumber got inside a head of cabbage. And when they cut the cabbage in winter, the cucumber turned out to be absolutely fresh!

Garden crops sometimes help each other

Five easy and original ways to store cucumbers

• Method 1: Fill the bag halfway with cucumbers. Cover the top of the vegetables with a piece of wet gauze. Place the bag in a vegetable container. If everything is done correctly, the cucumbers will not lose their freshness for 4-5 days.

The best area in the refrigerator for cucumbers is the fruit and vegetable drawers. And if there are none, then the place with the highest temperature is farthest from the freezer (if the refrigerator is single-chamber).

• Method 2: Try keeping cucumbers fresh by surrounding them with vinegar fumes. Pour 5-6 tablespoons of vinegar into a large bowl. Place an upside-down colander, microwave rack, or other rack with a rack. Place one or two layers on top of the cucumbers on a raised surface. Close the lid. They say that cucumbers can be stored this way for several weeks.

Vinegar vapor helps preserve cucumbers

• Method 3: If there is neither a refrigerator nor a cellar at the dacha, then it is convenient to store cucumbers inside a well. First, put the vegetables in some ceramic or earthenware bowl, then place the bowl with cucumbers in a bucket. Lower it down until it almost reaches the water. And fix the rope on which the bucket is lowered.
• Method 4: Use parchment paper to keep cucumbers fresh longer. Wrap parchment paper around each cucumber, then place them in one bag. Do not tie the bag at the top, but place it open in the fruit and vegetable drawer.
• Method 5: In supermarkets, food is sometimes packaged in containers with a soft lining at the bottom that retains moisture. This method is also suitable for home use. Place a slightly damp cloth on the bottom of the bowl with cucumbers. This way they will lose moisture more slowly.

Try placing a slightly damp cloth on the bottom

Is it possible to freeze greens?

Peculiarities. It is believed that cucumbers do not freeze. The fact is that this vegetable is 95% water. Therefore, after defrosting, it is unsuitable for consumption: the fruits simply turn into a slimy porridge - unappetizing and devoid of any taste. But you can still keep greens fresh for up to nine months. The secret is blast freezing, which turns the vegetable into ice in an instant. Flash freezing is a method of instantly freezing food at -18°C. This method allows you to preserve the nutritional value and taste of cucumbers for almost a whole year.

Algorithm of actions

1. Cut the greens into slices.
2. Place in one layer on a wooden or plastic board.
3. Freeze it.
4. Remove the pieces turned into ice from the board into a plastic bag or plastic container intended for storage in the freezer.

Cucumbers preserved by deep freezing are suitable for making salads.

How should cucumbers be stored?

• It's a bad idea to store cucumbers in a tightly tied bag. Without access to oxygen, they will “suffocate” and suddenly deteriorate.
• Another dubious method of keeping cucumbers fresh is coating them with egg white . Perhaps this will create a film that will protect against drying out. But after a short time, the protein will deteriorate. And rotten egg poisoning is scary. This method of storing cucumbers is hazardous to health.
• It is an extremely bad idea to freeze cucumbers. After defrosting, they will completely lose their taste and even consistency, becoming like porridge. The fresh zone is also too cold a place for heat-loving cucumbers.

You may be interested in other articles on our site:

• How to keep cheese fresh in the refrigerator for a long time?
• How to store food without refrigeration?
• How to properly store tomatoes: ripe, brown and green?
• How to store onions?
• How and where to store dried fruits at home: dried apricots, raisins, prunes?
• Bulgarian pickled cucumbers
• Delicious cucumbers in tomato
• The best pickled cucumber recipes

General recommendations and useful tips

A few more useful, proven tips for storing cucumbers that will help when preparing the product:

1. For long-term storage, choose fruits with thick green skin. Seeds (overripe) and yellowed are unsuitable for long-term storage.
2. Do not try to preserve gherkins for a long time. They will quickly lose moisture and spoil, just like greenhouse varieties of cucumbers.
3. Do not buy fresh vegetables from a very cold display case for long-term storage. Temperature changes accelerate the process of their deterioration.
4. When storing vegetables, carefully monitor the temperature. At temperatures below zero, cucumbers soften and mucus appears on them.