Tested: 9 different ways to keep cucumbers fresh
Craving cucumbers, but when you open the fridge, all you find is a completely slimy, snotty cucumber in the vegetable drawer? Even though you only bought that cucumber a few days ago! You’re probably storing your cucumbers incorrectly. What’s the right way? Culinary magazine The Kitchn investigated.
The editor of The Kitchn buys nine cucumbers and packages each one differently. One goes into the fridge unwrapped, while other cucumbers go into a ziplock bag, with or without a damp paper towel, or are wrapped in cling film. She also varies where she stores the cucumbers: in the fridge door, on a fridge shelf, in the vegetable drawer and simply on the counter.
Keeping cucumbers fresh: this works best
She also tests the storage methods with different cucumbers: small snack cucumbers, a cucumber with thicker skin and the so-called English cucumber, with thinner skin. What works best?
On the counter
The cucumbers she bought were probably all quite fresh, because even on the counter, at room temperature, they stayed fresh and good to eat for about seven days. That is immediately the least effective method for storing your cucumbers, but apparently it doesn’t do too much harm—as long as you plan to eat the cucumber this week.
No packaging
Notably, the cucumbers stored unwrapped in the fridge, whether in the door, on a shelf or in the vegetable drawer, lasted just as long. Wrapping them in a plastic bag, a ziplock bag or a piece of damp paper towel also didn’t really make much difference.
Twelve days, or two weeks
If you wrap the cucumber in cling film and put it in the vegetable drawer, it will last for twelve days. But the very best method turned out to be: cucumber wrapped in damp paper towel, then placed in a bag, and stored on a fridge shelf. There, the regular cucumber in particular remained good enough to eat for almost nineteen days.
To be honest, it won’t look its best after almost three weeks, but if you cut away the wrinkled pieces and peel the cucumber, you won’t notice it at all. In short: bag, paper towel and put it on the shelf—then you won’t forget about the cucumber either. And make this incredibly delicious spicy cucumber salad from Din Tai Fung!
Read also:
- 4x top recipes from the editorial team that we make every week
- Do: smash cucumbers
- 10 tips for keeping your food fresh for longer
Source: TheKitchn
