How to freeze cucumbers for the winter: detailed instructions and useful tips

Fresh summer cucumbers from the garden cannot be compared with the fruits that are sold in supermarkets in winter. Preserving the summer benefits of cucumbers is easy: try freezing them for the winter. Due to their watery structure, many housewives do not risk putting these vegetables in the freezer and prefer traditional canning. We will tell you how to preserve the taste, shape and color of green pulp.

Which cucumbers store well: choosing the fruits

Cucumbers for freezing must be fresh and firm. Do not use limp, overgrown, rotten or cracked fruits. Such vegetables quickly become bitter when exposed to cold.

If possible, find out the variety of the selected cucumber and its purpose. Hybrid salad varieties have rather loose and juicy pulp. They are good fresh in salads and appetizers, but they do not tolerate icing very well.

Other varieties are used for freezing - pickling and universal. It should be very dense and crispy.

Select medium-sized cucumbers. Small gherkins can be frozen whole. Large fruits are usually stored as slices or grated and pureed. In the future, such freezing is used to prepare salads, stews, and vegetable smoothies.

Be prepared for the fact that after defrosting, the cucumber will not look like a fresh product.

Preparation

It is better to harvest cucumbers immediately after they are picked from the bush. At this moment they contain the most vitamins.

Rinse the fruit thoroughly under the tap to remove all dust. Sometimes cucumbers are soaked in warm water for about 30-60 minutes in order to draw out nitrates. This is most often done with store-bought vegetables.

Advice
It is better to cut off both ends of the cucumber: they are not only bitter, but also contain more nitrates than other parts of the pulp.

After washing, the fruits are dried well. Wipe them with napkins and let them lie on the table at room temperature.

Fruits are frozen both with and without skin. If you took young samples, their delicate and thin skin will not affect the taste after defrosting.

How to freeze: all methods

Cucumbers are kept in the freezer mainly in chopped form. After thawing, the whole fruit turns into a liquid mass, and it can no longer be cut or grated, except perhaps put into a blender bowl.

In circles

How to freeze cucumber slices:

1. After the fruits are washed and dried, remove their tails and cut everything into even slices 0.5-0.7 cm thick.
2. Prepare portion bags and containers. Pack cucumbers so that one package is used for one use. It is not convenient to constantly take out a common package and separate slices frozen to each other.
3. Any cucumber slices should first be frozen in individual pieces. Since this vegetable is very juicy, moisture will help the slices stick together. How to freeze cucumbers: First, spread all the slices in an even layer on a baking sheet or dish.Pre-cover the surface with cling film so that the cucumbers do not stick to it. Now put everything in the freezer for 10-12 hours. The cucumbers should be completely hard. After this, they can be poured into general bags or containers.
4. Cucumbers are never stored open, as they absorb all foreign odors. Ensure that the packaging is sealed.

How to use cucumber slices in the future: this is a beautiful addition to sandwiches, hamburgers, fresh vegetable salads, decorating side dishes and meat dishes.

Advice
Use iced cucumber slices as a facial toner. Let them thaw a little and wipe your face and neck if you look tired.

Cubes

Cut the fruits into small or large cubes. The preparation is carried out in exactly the same way as in the case of circles:

1. Shake off excess moisture.
2. Place the cubes on a baking sheet and let them freeze.
3. After 10-12 hours, pour everything into general bags and seal it tightly.

What dishes to use diced cucumbers for: okroshka and various salads, for example, vinaigrette, Olivier salad, etc.

Grated cucumber

How to prepare grated cucumber:

1. If necessary, remove the washed and dried fruit from rough skin.
2. Grate the pulp on a coarse or fine grater, as you prefer.
3. Squeeze out the mass using gauze folded in several layers. This will remove excess juice.
4. Divide into small bags and freeze. The juice can also be stored in the freezer.

Advice
purity-en.htgetrid.com magazine recommends that you always try a piece of the cucumber you want to freeze. If the pulp is bitter, then the cold will intensify this property. Choose sweet fruits.

The grated mass is good in vegetable salads, it is used in green soups and stews.

Cucumber puree

Pureeed cucumber will not spoil the appearance of a vegetable salad, unlike cubes, which can soften and turn into porridge.

The puree is very easy to prepare:

1. Chop the fruit and place in a blender bowl.
2. Grind the cucumber until smooth.
3. Squeeze out the moisture a little.
4. Place puree portions into small containers with a lid.
5. Also use ice cube trays. Such preparations will decorate vegetable smoothies.
6. Do not fill the containers completely as the watery puree will expand in size due to frost.

Juice

Cucumber juice is popular primarily in cosmetology. With such a vitamin preparation, you will always have a refreshing tonic that will invigorate your skin and prepare it for applying the cream.

How to cook:

1. Extract the juice from the cucumber using a juicer. If you don’t have a device, then grind the vegetable with a blender and squeeze it out, wrapping it in two to four layers of gauze.
2. Pour the juice into ice cube trays.
3. Store the tray wrapped in a freezer bag to prevent the juice from absorbing odors.

Expiration date and defrosting

Sliced ​​cucumbers will last 5-8 months at standard temperature settings in the freezer, that is, at –18 °C. If it is possible to set the temperature lower, then use it, although this requires a lot of energy.

When defrosted for a long time, cucumbers inevitably turn into shapeless pieces. Do not let them thaw completely, use them slightly frozen. To do this, move the package to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and leave for about an hour.

Re-freezing cucumbers is a futile exercise. Temperature changes spoil any product, especially vegetables rich in juice.

Although freezing does not allow you to preserve the original shape of cucumbers, thanks to it, a maximum of useful substances remain in the vegetable. Cucumbers will still be flavorful and full of vitamins.