Sometimes it happens that the cucumbers who were planted according to all the rules, for which they looked after for a long time, plucked them, watered and fed, suddenly turned out to be bitter to taste! Why do cucumbers come across bitter and how to make your work on the site not disappear?
Why is bitterness
In appearance, bitter cucumbers cannot be distinguished from ordinary. They are the same saturatedly green, the skin is crispy, and the aroma is very fresh.
Why are cucumbers bitter
Many housewives have repeatedly succumbed to this external deception and spoiled the taste of some kind of salad with one bitter cucumber. Yes, you can completely cut the peel in the cucumber, not add it to the dish, but after all, it contains all trace elements and vitamins that are so necessary for every human body!
Kukurbitacin – this is the cause of bitterness with a cucumber, this is a special substance with a bitter taste. There are cucurbitacin in all cucumbers, but only its increased concentration will be felt in the vegetable. If this substance is not enough, then cucumbers have their own ordinary taste without bitterness. We list the main causes of increasing the level of this substance in green vegetables: excessive amount or lack of moisture, irregular irrigation, lack of potassium and nitrogen in the ground, low humidity in the greenhouse, excess of sunlight.
Sometimes the reason for the bitterness of cucumbers lies in the twisted or damaged lashes of the plant. A sharp change in the taste of cucumbers has a direct effect – this is also worth considering.
Plants need to be regularly and moderately watered with warm water to avoid the occurrence of bitterness. And also they need to be sprayed in the morning, use exclusively high -quality complex fertilizers as a top dressing. You can not use fresh manure – it is not suitable as top dressing for cucumbers!
When choosing seeds, it is worth paying attention to hybrid varieties that contain special genes that prevent the accumulation in cucumbers. Carefully study the marking on the packaging of seeds. Of course, the taste of such cucumbers can be less soft and expressive, but no bitterness will be one hundred percent.
How to use bitter cucumbers
So, all preventive measures to grow vegetables without bitterness did not lead to the proper result? You came across bitter cucumbers? Do not rush to get rid of them! And bitter cucumbers can be eaten, only preliminarily you need to “conjure” a little over them. Here is the most popular way – cut the peel from bitter fruits. Sometimes it is enough to cut off the back (2-3 centimeters) from the cucumber, there is often the entire kurobitacin concentrates.
How to use bitter cucumbers
Or you can use the advice of the Japanese – they never throw fruits with bitterness. They cut the tip, rub them on the cut of the cucumber in a circular motion. Due to this, white foam occurs around the circumference of the cut, and Kurbitacin accumulates in it. A cucumber without this foam will lose bitterness, so this is a very effective method of obtaining a fresh delicious fetus.
Of course, these are not the only ways to eliminate bitterness from cucumbers. For example, you can put cucumbers in a basin, pour cold water for a couple of hours. Most of the bitterness will go into the water, and you can enjoy fresh green fruits. If the cucumbers came across very bitter, then change the water in the basin several times.
Bitter cucumbers can be preserved. Under the influence of water, Kurbitacin is able to split, it is also influenced by high temperatures. So if your attempts to “reanimate” bitter cucumbers turned out to be unsuccessful, then the only way out is to pour them with a marinade or pick up them. Even the most bitter fruits after this processing will be suitable for food.