The cause of the bitterness of cucumbers is cucurbitacin. This substance has a bitter taste, and it is found in absolutely all cucumbers. But there are many varieties of these vegetables, and in some it is more, and in some less. The lowest cucurbitacin content is most often found in hybrid varieties. But still, its number may increase. This is often facilitated by any external factors.
Main reasons
The main reasons why bitterness is often present in cucumbers may be insufficient and irregular watering. Or vice versa, if there was a lot of moisture for vegetables - for example, the summer was rainy and cool. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight is also very harmful, as is the lack of sunlight. Low humidity, which may be in the greenhouse, can also affect cucumbers and add bitterness to them. Insufficient nitrogen-potassium nutrition is also related to an increase in cucurbitacin content.
Bitterness is also intensified by inaccurate collection, when the whips are confused and damaged. There is another reason - if after the usual heat there is a sharp long cooling with heavy rains.
Prevent bitterness
How to remove bitterness from cucumbers? Often gardeners are interested in this issue. In order to reduce the content of cucurbitacin in vegetables, they need to be watered with warm water, and in the heat it is necessary to increase the watering much. If it gets colder, then you need to temporarily stop watering them at all. It is quite enough if the soil is moistened 15 cm in depth.
In extreme heat, plants must be sprayed additionally. You can do this in the morning or in the evening. Cucumbers need to be fed. And for this, potassium nitrate and complex fertilizers are perfectly suitable, in which nutrients are properly balanced. Vegetables really do not like fresh manure - this must be known.
When seeds are selected for planting cucumbers, it is better to give preference to those on the packaging of which there is an indication that this variety will not be bitter. There are many varieties that contain a special gene that prevents the accumulation of cucurbitacin in vegetables. But such cucumbers differ in taste, they are less expressive, softer. Bitterness is manifested mainly in those varieties where the taste is most pronounced.
How to remove bitterness from cucumbers? Even if they are bitter, they do not need to be thrown away, since cucurbitacin breaks down during heat treatment, which means that they can be pickled, salted, fried, even if they are unfit for fresh use.
How to remove bitterness from cucumbers: methods
Bitterness can be removed or reduced in other ways. For example, rubbing. Wash the cucumber well, then you need to cut off the part at the tip where the stem was. If the cucumber is bitter, then you just need to rub it with a cut “ass”. In this place a thick white foam will form. Rubbing should be continued in circular intensive movements, until less and less foam is released. This method is often used in cafes and restaurants. When foam is formed, cucurbitacin is drawn from the vegetable, and the cucumber becomes ordinary, without bitterness. What is remarkable - additional processing (soaking, etc.) is not required.
There is another method of removing bitterness from cucumbers - for this they can be soaked in salt. The vegetables are thoroughly washed, the “ass” is also cut off and the pulp is sampled. If you feel a taste of bitterness, then the cucumber is cut into slices, but you do not need to peel the skin. Then the slices are laid out in a clean bowl and sprinkled with salt a little. Under such a salt compress, they should be left to lie down for about 40 minutes, until they give juice. It is with him that bitterness from the cucumber will come out. Then it can be added to any dishes. Just before that, the vegetables are still thoroughly washed and dried a little.
There is another effective way to remove bitterness from cucumbers. You can just soak them in cold water. This is usually done with pickling cucumbers. They are poured with cold water for 12 hours, then the peel is cut from the vegetables. Before rolling into a jar, add a little dry mustard or horseradish wedges on top.
How to rid cucumbers of bitterness. The opinion of scientists
Scientists and vegetable practitioners who work with this crop mostly pay little attention to how to remove bitterness from cucumbers. Everything is simply limited by references to the fact that this phenomenon is quite possible. And the microclimatic causes of occurrence are listed - air humidity, temperature, illumination, etc. This is justified by the fact that in experimental work and production self-pollinated cucumbers are considered the main products, and bitterness is completely unusual for them.
When bitterness arises
Scientists do not pay attention to all complaints of gardeners about how to remove bitterness from cucumbers, since they consider these complaints to be small-scale. There are a lot of ways and ways of formation of complex substances in plants, including bitter ones. Bitterness can occur mainly in three cases:
- an increase in the substance that causes it, under the influence of adverse factors;
- a decrease in the content of substances that form a taste in cucumbers (acids, sugars, vitamins, carbohydrates, etc.);
- change in the ratio of the above substances.
What to look for
If you adhere to the advice that scientists give, then the question of how to eliminate the bitterness in cucumbers, simply does not arise. For example, soil overdrying is considered a negative factor, which leads to massive and instant death of root hairs, which simply need water. Due to the fact that less water gets into the stem and leaves, dehydration occurs. The outflow of organic substances stops, the fetus does not fill, ripening is delayed.
It also happens...
The reason for the bitterness of cucumbers can also be hidden in waterlogging, in which the roots will suffer from a lack of oxygen, because if there is a lot of moisture, then the plants will not be able to use it all. The same thing happens with an excess of food. After this, the following happens along the chain. At low temperatures of air and soil, plants stop growing, their qualities deteriorate. For example, the same bitterness appears.
The high temperature, which is often caused by the fact that the greenhouse is not ventilated, causes the plants to evaporate and absorb water intensely, as a result of which photosynthesis in the leaves is disturbed. This also contributes to the appearance of bitterness in cucumbers.
All adverse effects affect the quality of the fruit, and primarily lead to a slowdown in growth. They can also lead to the accumulation of nitrates in fruits, and vice versa, reduce the content of nutrients and vitamins.