Can cucumbers be frozen and stored? (How to freeze, store and thaw cucumbers)

It is easy to lose appetite when the weather gets hotter and hotter. It's best to have a dish of cold cucumbers at this point.  It has a sweet and crisp taste. It is appetizing and relieves the heat. It is also a well-known holy food for weight loss, and the preparation process is simple. 

Cucumbers are crunchy and refreshing, with a slight sweetness. They are delicious as salads or stir-fried. If you cannot eat the cucumbers you buy home quickly and want to freeze them, freezing the whole cucumber is the best way.  

1. Select fresh cucumbers

• shape

Many people have a question, "Should I choose a straight or curved cucumber?" The Taipei Agricultural Products Transportation and Marketing Company recommends that the best choice for cucumbers is those with a straight body and uniform overall width, while the cucumber body is too curved and has a concave and convex shape. Uneven ones are less recommended; generally speaking, the inner curvature should not exceed 2 centimeters. In addition, the bigger the root of the cucumber, the better. The length of about 15 centimeters is the most appropriate. Cucumbers that are too long will have more seeds, which will affect the taste.

• Epidermis

There are many protruding thorns on the surface of cucumbers. Fresh cucumbers usually have small and dense thorns on the surface, and these thorns are easy to break. However, aged cucumbers have sparse thorns on the surface. Therefore, it is recommended to choose cucumbers with intact thorn warts and no wounds on the surface. Or those with pests or diseases are better. Another indicator is to judge by pressing the melon body. If it is firm and elastic, it is better; on the contrary, if the texture is soft, it means it is old and stale.

• Color

The skin of fresh cucumbers should be dark green. If you see yellowing or even blackening on the surface, it means that the quality is no longer fresh. The taste of light green cucumbers is also worse than that of dark green cucumbers.

• Vertical text

Experts have observed that fresh cucumbers usually have obvious vertical characters on their surface. If the surface of the cucumber is quite smooth and there are no vertical characters at all, the taste will mostly be poor. 

Generally speaking, food with a temperature range between 7 and 60 degrees is most likely to cause bacteria to multiply. If you observe that the surface of the cucumber becomes sticky, it is likely that the cucumber is rotten and spoiled. At this time, microorganisms will multiply. It can easily become a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria, so it is not recommended to continue to consume it. If you eat spoiled food by mistake at this time, you are likely to suffer from gastrointestinal discomfort, Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting and even fever.

2. The shelf life of cucumbers

• Normal temperature

Generally, at room temperature, cucumbers are prone to yellowing due to aging and allow microorganisms to grow and become rotten. After the shelf life of untreated cucumbers expires, they will lose a lot of water and nutrients, and their taste will become worse. It is recommended to eat it as soon as possible while it is fresh. After cooking cucumbers, do not leave them at room temperature for more than 2 hours. In summer, when the room temperature exceeds 30 degrees, shorten it to 1 hour to avoid food spoilage.

• Refrigeration

The optimal storage temperature for cucumbers is 7 to 10°C, so the average household refrigerator temperature is 4 to 8°C. Therefore, it should not be stored in the refrigerator for too long. If you want to store it for a long time, you can pack it in a fresh-lock bag to prevent loss. Water causes poor taste, and secondly, it can reduce cold damage caused by low temperature.

• Freezing

When cucumbers are frozen at minus 18 degrees Celsius, the shelf life can be extended to approximately 6 months. However, frozen cucumbers have a poor taste and are usually used for pickling and making side dishes.

3. Steps to "freeze" cucumbers:

Step 1: Please clean the cucumber and dry it with a kitchen towel.

 

Step 2: Wrap each cucumber separately with freezer-safe plastic wrap (refer to the outer packaging instructions and hot and cold temperature resistance labels).

 

Step 3: Put all the cucumbers into a freezer-safe zipper bag, slightly drain the air out of the bag, seal the bag, and place it in the refrigerator to freeze. It can be stored for about 2 to 3 weeks.

 

4. Steps for "thawing" cucumbers:

Step 1: Take out the cucumbers from the ziplock bag, but do not remove the plastic wrap. Directly rinse the cucumbers with the plastic wrap to defrost them. Just rinse them to the "semi-thawed state". Do not completely remove the ice or it will affect the cooking. The final taste. After rinsing, remove the plastic wrap and squeeze out the excess water from the cucumbers with your hands.

Step 2: Cut the cucumber into small pieces as needed. Because it is in a semi-thawed state, it is easy to cut. Next, squeeze out the excess water from the cucumbers with your hands, and you can start eating.

 5. How to preserve cucumbers

Unprocessed cucumbers are very difficult to preserve. They only have a best viewing period of 3 to 5 days on the shelf. Even if they are placed in the refrigerator, they will still get moldy very quickly. What should you do to extend the shelf life of cucumbers? Woolen cloth?

Freeze with salt

First wash the cucumbers (try to eat them within a month after slicing), dry the water on the surface with a kitchen towel, apply salt and rub it for a few times. At this time, some water will leak out, so take it out of the kitchen Wipe it again with paper towels, then put it in a plastic bag or plastic box and freeze it. Just place it in the refrigerator to defrost one day in advance before each serving.

Put into fresh lock bag

According to laboratory testing, cucumbers packed in fresh-lock bags and cucumbers without fresh-lock bags were placed in the refrigerator for a week at the same time. The experimental results found that the cucumbers using fresh-lock bags successfully locked 99% of the water content of fruits and vegetables, which was better than The water retention rate of unused fresh-lock bags is about 34% higher; and the hardness of cucumber pulp using fresh-lock bags is about 112% higher than that of unused ones, which is more than twice the solid taste; in terms of nutritional preservation, the use of fresh-lock bags The vitamin C preservation rate of fresh-lock bags is also as high as 26% compared to unused ones. 

The optimal storage temperature of cucumbers is about 7 to 10 degrees. If the refrigerator temperature is lower than this range, it is recommended to wipe the water on the surface of the cucumbers first, and then wrap the cucumbers with kitchen towels or plastic wrap to avoid cucumbers. Frostbite; finally put a layer of fresh-lock bag on the outside to seal it, which can better retain the water and nutrients of the cucumber. In addition, do not mix different fruits and vegetables, as the characteristics of fruits and vegetables are different, which can easily affect the preservation effect. It is also not recommended to wash fruits and vegetables before packaging, so as not to cause damage to the fruits and vegetables, thereby affecting the shelf life.