Cucumbers rapidly produce in most gardens for months every summer. Check out how to store cucumbers long term without having to turn them all into pickles!
<< Beginner's Guide to Back to Eden Gardening | 65 Ways to Use Zucchini >>
With our amazing Back to Eden garden pumping out crazy amounts of produce, including the amazing cucumber, I have recently found myself trying to think up new ways to use them all!
I started with canning of course; I made pickles of all shapes, sizes, and flavors, but then I still have cucumbers left!
So I wanted to find ways to preserve cucumbers that didn't mean stuffing my pantry with even more (albeit delicious) pickles! Of course, we eat everything we can fresh, but even still I was bringing in 2-3 pounds of cucumbers 2x a day with no idea how I was going to use them...
Since my research on all the ways to use and store zucchini turned out to be so interesting, I decided to do the same thing with my goal of finding out how to store cucumbers for long term use.
Health Benefits of Cucumbers
Just as with my discovery of all the actual healthy reasons to eat zucchini, I was shocked by all the things that cucumber can do for your body when you just eat a cup a day!
For example, check out the nutritional facts for one cup of cucumbers (with the peel):
- 16 calories
- Zero protein, fat, fiber or sugar
- 17 milligrams vitamin K (22 percent DV)
- 3 milligrams vitamin C (4 percent DV)
- 6 milligrams magnesium (4 percent DV)
- 152 milligrams potassium (4 percent DV)
- 8 milligrams manganese (4 percent DV)
During the summer we usually split one medium cucumber per day so I’m thrilled with all the good stuff we are getting!
Because of all those amazing nutritional components, cucumber contains cancer-fighting antioxidants, helps detox the body by cleansing the liver (what?!), contains lignans which help lower cholesterol and improve blood pressure levels, helps promote healthy digestion, and also helps balance the body's pH level to be more alkaline (a really good thing!).
Who knew this humble little vegetable could do so much? So amazing!
Preserving Cucumbers without Pickling
So now that I'm out of this world excited to start eating more cucumber, here are all the ways to store cucumbers without pickling them!
Cucumber Salsa
I think this will be great to use as a side dish or garnish with meals throughout the year. I'm sure the taste is much lighter than that of its tomato counterpart!
Crispy Cucumber Chips
These would be a great long term storage snack, kept in mylar bags with a silica packet. Perfect for snacking without the heavy oils and carbs of potato chips.
Garlic Dill Cucumber Chips
Another chip recipe, this one with a garlic dill seasoning instead.
Cucumber Mint Jam
Ok, I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about this recipe. However, after reading the rave reviews on the original post I knew I had to try it! So I gathered the supplies and will be making it asap!
Cucumber Seeds for Health and Snacks
Did you know that cucumber seeds can help you detox and even get rid of parasites?? I'm no doctor, so I won't explain the details as they've been explained to me, but look it up!
So I'm saving the seeds from all the "too-big-to-eat" cucumbers and look forward to having them on hand for their amazing health benefits.
Some of these sounds quite interesting and I probably would try some of them!
I hope you do! I enjoy many of them :-)
Do you freeze the salsa, etc.? It doesn’t say but I don’t see how they would last throughout the winter if you don’t. Please address, thank you.
Hi Lynn! You can absolutely freeze it, just like you can tomato salsa :-) Enjoy!
Just curious, I looked at the seed saving post and it is for saving to plant. What is the best way to save to eat?
Hi Carol, great question! If I was saving to eat the seeds, I would likely roast them like these roasted zucchini seeds and store in an air tight container. You can season them or not, up to you! Enjoy!
Thank you for the advice about avocados. I got a real deal today, 60 for $20. I love them and sometimes eat 2 a day. I was not sure about freezing them. Now I will be able to enjoy them for a long while.
Hi Junie! I’m so glad you were able to find such a deal, amazing! We love freezing our avocados when we find a good steal too… enjoy!