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

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

What cucumbers are well stored: choose the fruits

Cucumbers for freezing must be fresh and supple. Sluggish, overgrown, rotted and cracked fruits do not use. Such vegetables quickly become bitter when exposed to the cold.

If possible, find out the variety of the selected cucumber and its purpose. Hybrid salad varieties have a fairly loose and juicy flesh. They are good fresh in salads and snacks, but icing is not very tolerated.

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

Select medium-sized cucumbers. Small gherkins can be frozen whole. Large fruits are usually stored in the form of slices or grated and mashed. In the future, such freezing goes on the preparation of salads, stews, vegetable smoothies.

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

Training

Cucumbers are best harvested immediately after they are picked from the bush. At this point, they have 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 stretch the nitrates. This is most often done with purchased vegetables.

Tip
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 dry well. Wipe them with napkins and let them lie on the table at room temperature.

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

How to freeze: all ways

Cucumbers in the freezer are kept mainly in crushed form. After thawing, the whole fruit turns into a liquid mass, and it will no longer be able to be cut or grated, unless sent to a blender bowl.

Circles

How to freeze cucumbers in circles:

1. After the fruits are washed and dried, remove their tails and cut everything in even slices of 0.5-0.7 cm thick.
2. Prepare portioned bags and containers. Pack cucumbers so that one package leaves for one application. It is not convenient to constantly get a common package and separate the slices frozen to each other.
3. Any sliced ​​cucumber should first be frozen in separate pieces. Since this vegetable is very juicy, moisture will contribute to the adhesion of lobules among themselves. How to freeze cucumbers: first, lay out 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 send everything to the freezer for 10-12 hours. Cucumbers should be completely hardened. The field of this can be poured into shared packages or containers.
4. Cucumbers are never stored open, as they absorb all odors. Ensure the tightness of the packaging.

How to use cucumbers in circles in the future: this is a beautiful addition to sandwiches, hamburgers, fresh vegetable salads, decoration of side dishes and meat dishes.

Tip
Use ice cucumber circles as a skin tonic. Let them thaw a little and wipe your face and neck if you are tired.

Cubes

Cut the fruit into small or large cubes. Harvesting is carried out in the same way as in the case of circles:

1. Shake off excess moisture.
2. Place the cubes on a baking sheet and send them to freeze.
3. After 10-12 hours, pour everything into general packages and pack hermetically.

For what dishes to use cucumbers in cubes: for okroshka and various salads, for example, vinaigrette, olivier, etc.

Grated cucumber

How to prepare grated cucumber:

1. Rinse and rinse the fruit off the rough skin if necessary.
2. Rub the flesh on a coarse or fine grater as you like.
3. Squeeze out the mass using gauze folded in several layers. This will remove excess juice.
4. Distribute in small packets and freeze. Juice can also be stored in the freezer.

Tip
purity.bigbadmole.com/en/ recommends always trying a piece of the cucumber you want to freeze. If the flesh is bitter, then from the cold this property will increase. Choose sweet fruits.

Grated mass is good in vegetable salads, it is used in green soups, stews.

Cucumber puree

Pureed cucumber does not spoil the vegetable salad with its appearance, unlike cubes, which can soften and turn into porridge.

Mashed potatoes are very easy to prepare:

1. Slice the fruit and place in the blender bowl.
2. Grind the cucumber until smooth.
3. Squeeze out a little moisture.
4. Place portions of mashed potatoes in small containers with a lid.
5. Use ice molds as well. Such preparations will decorate a vegetable smoothie.
6. Do not fill the containers completely, as watery mashed potatoes from frost will increase in size.

Juice

Cucumber juice is popular primarily in cosmetology. With this vitamin preparation, you will have a refreshing toner at any time, which will invigorate the skin and prepare it for applying the cream.

How to cook:

1. Squeeze the juice of their cucumber with a juicer. If there is no appliance, then grind the vegetable with a blender and wring it out, wrapping in two to four layers of gauze.
2. Pour juice over the ice tins.
3. Keep the tray wrapped in a freezer bag so that the juice does not absorb odors.

Shelf life and defrost

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

With a long defrost, cucumbers inevitably turn into shapeless pieces. Do not let them thaw completely, use in slightly frozen form. To do this, move the package to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and hold for about an hour.

To freeze cucumbers repeatedly is a futile task. From temperature extremes any product deteriorates, and even more so vegetables rich in juice.

Freezing, although it does not allow preserving the pristine form of cucumbers, but thanks to it, a maximum of useful substances remains in the vegetable. Cucumbers will still be fragrant and vitamin.