Summer is officially over but nobody has told our cucumbers; they are producing better now than they did all summer! It is probably because we had such a hot summer this year. In contrast early autumn has been warm but not too hot so the vegetables are very happy!
We love eating fresh cucumbers but sometimes there are a few too many to handle. At the moment we are picking a couple of them every other day! We have had an oversupply of cucumbers other years too and we have found it hard to keep them fresh until they can be used or given away to family and friends.
Last year we tried wrapping them in plastic like how they wrap the long cucumbers at the supermarket. Then we stored them in the fridge but they didn’t keep very well. Actually they went all slimy – Yuk!
Apparently you are supposed to store your cucumbers at room temperature but ours always go soft and limp if we do that. This link suggests that they should be stored at around 55 °F (12 °C) but we don’t have any spots in our house that are that cool during summer! Because we don’t have a cool room we have no choice but to store ours in the refrigerator.
Earlier this year we found this article that discusses harvesting and storing cucumbers. It suggests that you wrap them in a towel and then put them in the fridge.
How We Are Storing Our Cucumbers To Keep Them Fresh For Longer!
- Wrap each cucumber is a sheet of paper towel – try to cover as much of the outside of the cucumber as you can.
- Now wrap the cucumber in plastic cling film and place it in the fridge.
Just remember that cucumbers don’t like to be too cold so it is best to keep them in one of the warmer sections of the fridge. We have found that storing them on a shelf near the front of the fridge is good.
This method has been very successful with cucumbers harvest over a week earlier still coming out nice and crisp and fresh. We have three or four in the fridge at the moment and there’s plenty more on the way. So now we can keep them fresh for our yummy salads!
I hope that you find this tip useful too!
Hi, I'm Kaylene, and I'm a keen gardener,budding baker and wannabe DIYer!
I need to give this a try. My cucumbers either turn soft or slimy! Yuck! During the summer we always end up with huge amounts of cucs….This sounds like the perfect solution!
Yes Kathy it’s so annoying when you grow your own food and then it goes off before you can use it!
You also can wrap your lettuce like that too.put a sheet or two in a zip lock bag with lettuce tore in half will keep fresh fo ever
Thanks for the tip Connie!
I usually “dampen” the paper towel then bag it. Works for me
Thanks for the suggestion Carren!
PS: THE STORAGE ON THE ‘DOOR’ OF THE FRIG, IS THE WARMEST PART!
This was super interesting! I never had a lot of luck with English cucumbers from the grocery store, but I should try wrapping the cucumbers in my fridge like this! Thanks for the tip.
Your welcome Jennifer! We usually have a large harvest of cucumbers in the summer and without this method we wouldn’t be able to keep them fresh. I hope it works for you too!
I agree, paper towel is good, but I use alfoil instead of plastic wrap. Works great for weeks
Thanks for the alfoil suggestion Sandra, I’ll have to give it a try next summer when we have lots of cucumbers growing!
Yes, Al foil works great for celery, keeps it fresh and crispy for weeks! Also cucumbers. Just make sure that it is really firmly wrapped. Don’t need anything else.
Thanks for the info Naomi, I’ll have to try it with celery now!
What is alfoil?
Alfoil is just a short name for aluminium foil which is commonly used in baking and barbecuing.
pickled cucumbers are another way to preserve and enjoy you harvest later
Yes Sandra pickling the cucumbers would be another great idea! I haven’t tried pickling them before, I’ll have to give it a try next summer!
Stonegableblog.com has a wonderful recipe for “easy garlic dill refrigerator pickles” that I have been using for several years! These keep indefinitely in the fridge.
Thanks for the suggestion Dianne, pickles are a wonderful way to use up excess cucumbers!
I cannot find that recipe, for easy garlic dill pickles, can you post it here?
Try wraping them in bubble wrapand put in the crisper. It also works for lettuce. Iam trying beetroot at the moment.
That’s an interesting idea Arlene, I’ll have to give it a try!
I like to use a wine refrigerator. You can get the temperature that you need and I store lots of vegetables in mine. I got it for just that purpose. I don’t have a cool room either.
What a great ideas Deborah, thanks for sharing!
I have an old small fridge that I can turn up ro close to 50° or down to where it all freezes. But the ideas all sound worth trying. I make pickles. My Moms old garlic kosher dolls are the family favorite. Lots of cloves iof garlic n the bottom are so good the kids used to fight over them.