Cucumber storage

Storage conditions for cucumbers

Without any tricks, cucumbers will lie for 5 to 7 days. But here it is important to follow a number of rules.

1. Cucumbers must be fresh. They plucked it from the garden – and immediately into the refrigerator. The longer they lie warm, the less in the refrigerator.
2. Cucumbers must be clean and dry. If the earth is stuck to the fruits or they are wet, they will not lie for a long time: dirt and moisture are an ideal environment for the development of rot.
3. Cucumbers must be whole. Dents, scratches, chips and other damage lead to the fact that the fruit quickly deteriorates.
4. Cucumbers should be thick-skinned. Thin-skinned varieties are not stored for a long time. As a rule, these are early cucumbers, they are intended for salads. But thick-skinned greens can lie much longer. Manufacturers rarely indicate this information on seed bags, but it can be found in the description of the variety, which is provided by the authors of the variety (1).

Shelf life of cucumbers

Cucumbers with thin skins are stored for only 3-4 days. Thick-skinned – about a week. But there are ways in which fruits can stay fresh for up to 250 days! It’s hard to believe, but it’s true.

Storage temperature of cucumbers

Most housewives send cucumbers to the refrigerator. And after a few days they become soft, watery and covered with spots, and even mucus. And all then, that the refrigerator does not suit them – the fruits simply freeze there, because they are very thermophilic. Experiments have shown that fruits deteriorate the most if the storage temperature is below 8-10 °C (2).

However, at room temperature, they also do not lie for a long time – they wither.

The ideal temperature for storing cucumbers is around 12-14°C (2).

Ways to store cucumbers in an apartment

In the package. Wrap cucumbers in paper towels – each fruit separately, and then put them in a plastic bag and send them to the refrigerator. The paper will protect them from the cold. In this form, the fruits are stored for 14 days.. This is the maximum period, but experiments have shown that from the 9th day of storage in the refrigerator (in the experiment, the temperature was 4,1 ° C), cucumbers began to fade. And on the 14th day their maximum wilting was noted (3). However, before use, they can be soaked in water, and they will restore their elasticity.

In egg white. Wash the fruits with boiled water, dry and coat with egg white. When it dries, a thin film forms on the surface of the fruit. Now put the cucumbers in a wooden box and send them to a dark, cool place. No box? Then tie ropes to the stalks-tails and hang them – in the same conditions.

The protein shell allows cucumbers to breathe, but does not allow moisture to pass through – they do not fade longer. Remain fresh 30-40 days.

In a wax shell. Wipe the cucumbers dry with a clean cloth, rub with a wax candle and refrigerate. Wax will protect the fruits from the cold and delay the evaporation of moisture – the fruits are preserved in this way. Stored for 35 days.

In a jar without oxygen. Wipe the cucumbers dry and fill a sterile 3-liter jar 3/4 full with them. Place a piece of paraffin candle on top and light it. And then, without blowing out the candle, cover the jar with a metal lid and roll it up.

The candle will burn as long as there is oxygen in the jar. As soon as it ends, the candle will go out. In fact, a vacuum is formed. After that, the jar can be sent to the cellar or refrigerator. In this form, cucumbers will lie for 120 days.

Ways to store cucumbers in the cellar

The same methods are suitable for storing cucumbers in the cellar as for the refrigerator. But there are also a couple of unusual ones.

In cabbage. This recipe was published in The Villager in 1779. It is suitable for those who have their own dacha and vegetables grow there. Sow cucumbers and white cabbage nearby in such a way that the cucumbers begin to tie exactly at the moment when the cabbage leaves begin to twist into a head. When the ovary appears on the cucumbers, put it together with the lash in the nascent forks between the leaves. Zelenets will grow with cabbage – inside it.

Ripe heads of cucumbers are stored in the cellar. Inside the head of cabbage, cucumbers remain as green and juicy as in the garden. Stored in this form up to 150 days.

In a clay pot with vinegar. This method was also used by our ancestors. A wooden grate was placed at the bottom of the clay hill, a little vinegar was poured, and cucumbers were placed on top of the grate. After that, the pot was tightly closed and lowered into the cellar. Shelf life – 250 days.

The old way of storing cucumbers

In a barrel at the bottom of the river. This is what the peasants did in the old days. Freshly picked cucumbers were stuffed to the brim in a wooden barrel, tightly closed so that water would not get inside, they tied a load and lowered it to the bottom of the river – the water must be running. As needed, the barrel was taken out of the water, cucumbers were taken from there, corked again and lowered back to the bottom. In this form, cucumbers were stored for up to 220 days – until the end of winter.

Popular questions and answers

We asked a number of questions about storing cucumbers agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova.

Sources of

1. State Register of Breeding Achievements, https://reestr.gossortrf.ru/
2. Magomedov R. K. Diseases of greenhouse cucumbers during storage // Plant Protection and Quarantine, 2013, https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/bolezni-teplichnyh-ogurtsov-pri-hranenii
3. Priyatkin N.S., Khomyakov Yu.V., Blokhin Yu.I., Kuznetsova T.A., Mikhina V.Yu. and others. Study of the dynamics of the state of cucumber fruits by instrumental physical, chemical and organoleptic methods during storage // Bulletin of the International Academy of Cold, 2019, https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/issledovanie-dinamiki-sostoyaniya-plodov-ogurtsa-instrumentalnymi -fizicheskimi-himicheskimi-i-organolepticheskimi-methodami-v