How to store fresh cucumbers in the refrigerator for as long as possible: the best methods and useful tips

In China, traditional methods of preserving the freshness of vegetables are still used. Cucumbers are stored in special water storage facilities or wells, and they remain fresh and edible for up to 3 months. You can also store it in a regular refrigerator for as long as possible. cucumbers crispy and fresh if you know and apply a few tricks.

Can cucumbers be stored in the refrigerator?

At normal room temperature of 20-22°C, these juicy, crunchy vegetables quickly begin to wilt, so you need them right away. put in the refrigerator.

Depending on the chosen storage method and the type of vegetables, the shelf life ranges from 2 days to 1 month at a temperature not exceeding +8°C. The varieties Konkurent, Kustovoy and Sadko have good keeping quality.

Rules for choosing cucumbers for storage

To keep these vegetables fresh longer at home, they must be:

• not spoiled;
• dry and clean, without lumps of earth on them or damage;
• from an open garden bed, not from a greenhouse.

Not suitable for storage for more than 3 days:

• limp cucumbers - they will quickly spoil even in the refrigerator;
• overgrown and yellow fruits - it is better to make a winter preparation from them in the form of a salad;
• thin-skinned, watery and hollow fruits.

How to properly store fresh cucumbers in your home refrigerator

Vegetables are sorted, cleaned of contaminants and the strongest are selected. It is better to eat cucumbers, even with minor damage, immediately.Prepare a container in which they will be stored and determine a place in the refrigerator.

Cucumbers should not be stored next to ethylene-emitting products: apples, pears, peppers, melons, bananas, tomatoes. Ethylene softens and promotes rapid spoilage of cucumbers.

Storage methods:

1. Vegetables are stored in a special box for 3-4 days.
2. Vegetables will keep for more than a week in an open plastic bag covered with damp cotton cloth.
3. If each cucumber is wrapped in paper and placed in a container or bag, they will remain fresh for up to 14 days. You can use special food wrapping paper or regular paper napkins.
4. By placing cucumbers with the stems down in a bowl of cold water, 1-2 cm deep, you will increase their shelf life to 1 month. The water must be changed once a day.
5. In a jar with a candle, cucumbers will remain fresh all winter. They are quickly washed and dried well, then folded or placed in a clean, dry jar. Light a non-scented candle in the jar and carefully close the lid so that the candle does not go out. When the oxygen burns out and the candle goes out, the jar is put into the refrigerator or cellar. When stored in a vacuum, vegetables stay fresh longer.
6. Another simple and interesting way to preserve cucumbers: they are washed, dried and brushed with egg white. Before this, the protein is lightly beaten so that it turns into a homogeneous liquid. Dried protein turns into a film that retains moisture. Vegetables are stored in the refrigerator.

Important! When storing vegetables, water should not come into contact with them.

How not to store cucumbers

Vegetables cannot be washed before putting them in the refrigerator, except for storing them in a protein film or in a jar with a candle.Cucumbers left in a plastic bag will quickly rot due to condensation on its walls. When stored near the freezer, vegetables quickly soften and become slippery.

The most unusual storage methods

There are ways that people kept vegetables fresh before the advent of refrigerators in their homes. Now they seem unusual, but cucumbers are stored this way from a month to six months.

In a pond

The fruits are placed in a bag with small cells and a weight suspended from below and the bag is lowered into a reservoir that does not freeze in winter.

In sand

You will need pottery and well-washed and dried sand. First put a layer of sand, then vegetables, then sand again and so on until the top of the container. The dishes are closed and put away in the cellar. Vegetables will be stored even longer if you bury the container in the ground.

In the well

If you have your own well on the property, a bucket of cucumbers covered with natural fabric is immersed in 1-2 cm of water.

In cabbage

For growing and longer storage, cucumbers are planted between rows of cabbage. The whip with the ovary appearing on it is placed between the leaves of cabbage. Thus, cucumbers grow inside the cabbage, and then are stored in it in a cool place.

In vinegar

Vinegar is poured into a clean enamel bowl with a layer of 3 mm, a colander or wire rack is placed inside, where the cucumbers are placed. The fruits should not touch the vinegar. Cover the container with a lid and store it in the cold.

General recommendations and useful tips

Cucumbers are 95% water, which evaporates even at low temperatures, so the main condition is to delay the evaporation of liquid from vegetables. The fruits must be elastic and have no voids inside.A household vacuum sealer will keep food fresh longer; vacuum packaging prevents oxidative processes in products.

Read also:

We grow the “Tsar’s Gift” tomato in stages, starting with seedlings and ending with harvesting a bountiful harvest.

Why pepper leaves curl and what to do about it.

The French Bunch tomato is easy to care for and ideal for pickling.

Conclusion

Cucumbers will stay fresh in a regular refrigerator for a month or longer if you choose and prepare the vegetables correctly and use different storage methods. Unusual, ancient methods allow you to keep these vegetables fresh and tasty for up to several months.