How to remove bitterness from cucumbers. Causes of bitter cucumber

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 a lot of varieties of these vegetables, and in some it is more, and in some - less. The lowest content of cucurbitin is most often in hybrid varieties. But still its number may increase. This is often promoted by some external factors.

Main reasons

The main reasons for which cucumber often contains bitterness, may be insufficient and irregular irrigation. Or vice versa, if there was a lot of moisture for vegetables - for example, the summer was rainy and cool. Long exposure to direct sunlight is also very harmful, as is the lack of sunlight. Low humidity, which can be in the greenhouse, is also able to affect cucumbers and add bitterness to them. An increase in the content of cucurbitin is associated with inadequate nitrogen-potassium nutrition.

Bitterness is amplified and in inaccurate collection, when confused and damaged whips. There is another reason - if after the usual heat there comes a sharp long cooling with abundant rains.

Prevent bitterness

How to remove bitterness from cucumbers? Often farmers are interested in this issue. In order to reduce the content of cucurbitin in vegetables, they should be watered with warm water, and in the heat it is necessary to increase watering a lot. If it gets colder, then you need to temporarily stop watering them at all. It is quite enough if the soil is moistened at 15 cm depth.

In severe heat, plants need to be sprayed additionally. You can do this in the morning or evening. Cucumbers should be fed. And potassium nitrate and complex fertilizers, in which the nutrients are correctly balanced, perfectly suits this. Vegetables do not like fresh manure very much - this must be known.

When seeds are selected for planting cucumbers, it is better to give preference to those on whose packing there is an indication that this grade will not be bitter. There are many varieties that contain a special gene that prevents the accumulation of vegetables in cucurbitin. But such cucumbers are different and to 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 during heat treatment cukurbitacin is split, which means that they can be marinated, salted, fried, even if fresh they are unsuitable for consumption.

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 cut off the "ass" to rub on the cut. In this place, a white thick foam will form. Tear should be continued in circular intensive movements, until the foam begins to stand out less and less. This method is often used in cafes and restaurants. When the foam is formed from the vegetable, cucurbitin is extracted, and the cucumber becomes normal, without bitterness. What is noteworthy is that additional processing (soaking, etc.) will not be required.

There is another method of how to remove bitterness from cucumbers - for this they can be soaked in salt. Vegetables are thoroughly washed, the "ass" is also cut off and the flesh tastes. If you feel the taste of bitterness, then the cucumber is cut into slices, but you do not need to peel the skin. Then the lobules are laid out in a clean dish and sprinkled with salt. Under such a saline compress they should be left for about 40 minutes, until they give juice. It is with him that bitterness will come out of the cucumber. Then you can add it to any dish. Only before that, vegetables are thoroughly washed and slightly dried.

There is another effective way of removing bitterness from cucumbers. You can just dunk them in cold water. This is usually done when pickling cucumbers. They are poured cold water for 12 hours, then the vegetables are cut from the skin. Before rolling in a jar from the top, add a little dry mustard or horseradish wedges.

How to save cucumbers from bitterness. Opinion of scientists

Scientists and practitioners, vegetable growers who work with this culture, mostly do not pay attention to the question of how to remove bitterness from cucumbers. Everything is simply limited by references to the fact that this phenomenon is quite possible. And microclimatic causes of occurrence are listed - air humidity, temperature, illumination, etc. This is justified by the fact that in experimental works and production the main products are self-pollinated cucumbers, and for them bitterness is completely uncharacteristic.

When there is bitterness

For all the lamentations of gardeners about how to bring the bitterness of cucumbers, scientists do not pay attention, because they consider these complaints small-scale. The ways and ways of formation in plants of complex substances, including those that are bitter, are many. Bitterness can occur mainly in three cases:

• An increase in the substance that causes it, under the influence of unfavorable factors;
• Decrease in cucumber content of substances that form a taste (acids, sugars, vitamins, carbohydrates, etc.);
• Change in the ratio of the substances listed above.

What to look for

If you follow the advice given by scientists, the question of how to eliminate bitterness in cucumbers will simply not arise. For example, the negative factors include overdrying the soil, which leads to a massive and instantaneous death of the root hairs, to which water is simply vital. Due to the fact that water enters the stalk and leaves less, dehydration occurs. The outflow of organic substances stops, the fruit does not fill up, the ripening is delayed.

It also happens...

The cause of the bitterness of cucumbers can hide in the waterlogging, in which the roots will suffer from lack of oxygen, since if the moisture is high, then the plants will not be able to use it all. The same happens with overabundance. After that, the following happens already along the chain. At low temperatures of air and soil, plants stop growing, their quality deteriorates. For example, the same bitterness appears.

The high temperature, which is often caused by the fact that the greenhouse does not ventilate, 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, to reduce the content of nutrients and vitamins.