A bitter cucumber will be a bitter pickle. The bitterness of a cucumber comes from an organic compound called cucurbitacin; this compound is usually concentrated in the leaves, stems, and skin of the cucumber. To remove bitterness from a cucumber try this: 1 wash the skin thoroughly with clear water; 2 cut off a small slice at the stem end of the cucumber; 3 rub the flat side of the cut piece against the now exposed flesh of the cucumber white flesh against white flesh — soon you will see a white foam appear; keep rubbing until the foam disappears—a minute or two; 4 repeat at the other end of the fruit.
This rubbing is said to extract the bitter cucurbitacin from the fruit. The myth of rubbing the caps to remove bitterness is just that…. The bitterness is embedded in the flesh, with concentrations towards the outer layers and ends naturally because that flesh has existed during stressful periods longer. Once the stress has happened, the only control you have is to remove more of the flesh, not rub it.
For those who did not know if you have a bitter cucumber,fix it! Almost every cucumber I harvested this year was bitter due to watering issues…. You may want to time the planting of the cucumbers so that they set fruit and mature in the time of the year when temperatures are in the 70s and 80sF, perhaps mid to late autumn in Arizona.
A real problem this growing season with my English cucumbers. Thank you for this information. I now know why they are bitter. Raging forest fires and extreme heat this summer in Kamloops British Columbia. I am about to pull the two plants I have in my raised garden.
We cant eat them. Interesting info below suggesting cutting ends and rubbing them with the cut-off portion and rub until you cannot see any more foam coming out, then rinse.
It was likely introduced to Europe by the Greeks or Romans. The cucumber appears in garden records in France in the 9th century, England in the 14th century, and in North America by the midth century.
Get the best gardening tips straight into your inbox! Email Address:. Join our gardening family to receive the latest tips. Search Search for: Search. Facebook 0 Tweet 0 Pin 0. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Vote Up 0 0 Vote Down 0. I pickle the bitter ones. Does the bitterness get masked by the pickling? Pickling will slightly mask the bitterness but not fully.
I found this article very interesting. Thanks for reading Harvest to Table! Every season we learn a little more from our garden. Next year, no bitter cucumbers :. Thus gave me a good laugh. Older greenhouse cucumbers often produced bitter cucumbers because the plants had both male and female flowers.
Pollinated female flowers produced the bitter cucumber fruits so with those old varieties the male flowers had to be removed. Just missing one or two male flowers could be enough to spoil a flush of fruit. To identify which sex the flowers are look for a tiny fruit behind the flower. This shows the flower is female as the males lack this immature cucumber.
The male flowers just have a stalk connecting them to the plant, often thinner than the female. The males sometimes grow in a group but females are always on their own. Modern all-female varieties do not have this problem but they can still produce bitter cucumbers or partly bitter cucumbers if the plant is stressed. Stress can be caused by a number of factors:.
If growing an old heritage variety of cucumber, ensure you get all the male flowers as soon as they appear. Pay attention to the temperature, using the vents on your greenhouse to keep them from overheating in the day and closing them on cool nights.
Water regularly, preferably little and often or twice a day rather than a good soaking every couple of days and letting the plant dry out in the meantime. Cucumbers love a humid atmosphere and react well to misting which will have a side benefit of deterring red spider mite.
This is one of the most popular and commonly used methods to remove the bitterness of cucumber. All you need to do is thinly cut off the last part of the stem or blossom end of the cucumber and with that piece rub the end of the cucumber in a circular motion. While you do this, a white foam-like substance will emerge from the inside of the cucumber.
This is the cucuritacin, which causes bitterness in it. Repeat the process on the other end by cutting the edge of the stem. Once you are done, wash the cucumber with water. You can definitely feel the difference. The salting technique is not very popular; however, it is believed that it works wonders. Cut the cucumber into two halves lengthwise. Sprinkle some salt on both the halves from where they were cut open and rub them against each other.
You will see the white foamy substance appearing on both the halves. Repeat the procedure two-three times before washing it off with water. A post shared by Sharon Cramer sharon.
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