my cukes taste HORRIBLE!!!

[SChunn]

picked 5 more today and had to throw every single one on the compost pile.

If I water the heck out of the plants will it help offset this soapy, bitter taste? Is it too late, and the plants should just be ripped out? (Don't get me started on the squash bugs, too.)

My grandma taught my mom a trick that she taught me. If you cut one end off and kinda swirl the cut ends together for a while, a white frothy stuff comes out. That is the bitter stuff from the skin. I do it to store bought cucumbers too. It does work, but I've noticed with the heat that mine are still a bit bitter. Give it a try. It can't hurt. Oh, it won't work if you cut both ends. Just one.

 

[gladahmae]

My grandma taught my mom a trick that she taught me. If you cut one end off and kinda swirl the cut ends together for a while, a white frothy stuff comes out. That is the bitter stuff from the skin. I do it to store bought cucumbers too. It does work, but I've noticed with the heat that mine are still a bit bitter. Give it a try. It can't hurt. Oh, it won't work if you cut both ends. Just one.

in water? I'm not understanding this entirely....
I take my cucumber, cut off one end (probably the stem end) and then:

a: rub the piece I cut off on the cut-end of the remaining cuke?
b: put them in a bowl of water and swirl/stir?
c: rub the cut piece and the remaining large pice of cucumber together in a bowl of water?
An I'm only supposed to cut one end off.


I have noticed that my cukes are really slippery feeling/slimey when I'm peeling them.....that's been my first clue that they'll probably going to taste bad.

I'd LOVE this to work (picked 3 more cukes today) but I'm just not 'getting' it.

 

[SChunn]

You can do it under the faucet, but I don't. I just rinse once I'm done. Put the cut peice back on the cucumber, flat sides together and rub them in a circular pattern kinda fast. Think, pedaling a bike with your hands. White foam will form around the edges of the cucumber. That foam tastes really bad.....

 

[Gryphon]

My mom showed me how to do that too, and said that she learned it from her grandmother. I asked her what it was about and she said "removing the demons" Might be a gap in the french-canadian translation there, but that's the answer I give whenever I get asked what the hell I'm doing to my cucumbers.

 

[SChunn]

I like that explanation! I'll have to remember it. I wonder if it worked for the OP. I hope so. Nothing more dissappointing than having to toss out something you worked so hard for.

 

[Happy Camper]

I am growing cukes for the first time and this has been of great help... I never thought I needed to learn how to exsorcise a cuke... well, only bad ones right?

I can't wait to get mine to grow big enough... I'd like to pick them earlier to avoid this to happen... How earlier can I pick and how do I know I can pick? Right now mine are an inch long...

 

[Adorkable]

I tried growing cukes and got the same bitter yukiness. The next year I tried Lemon Cucumbers because I read that they are less prone to becoming bitter and they were great. No bitterness at all. They look a little weird because they're round and yellow but they taste great!

 

[4BOWChickens]

Cucumbers normally get bitter because they aren't getting enough water, or at least that's what my mom always tells me.

I would say to make sure that they get a lot of water. Hope that helps

 

[4BOWChickens]

Cucumbers normally get bitter because they aren't getting enough water, or at least that's what my mom always tells me.

I would say to make sure that they get a lot of water. Hope that helps

 

[gladahmae]

Best I could find was that it was inconsistant moisture in the soil, which considering the summer we had, was almost impossible to avoid since our soil is pretty sandy and it was a record drought. PLUS our garden gets sun from about an hour after it comes up (tree line blocks it for about the first hour) until it sets. I'm plotting a drip-system for irrigation next year.