How to freeze cucumbers so they still stay crispy
In a few weeks, I’ll have cucumbers coming out of my ears on the farm. I get kind of tired of them after 2 weeks — not gonna lie. And my plants just keep producing. But then I always long for them during the winter.
Then I learned you can freeze cucumbers.
It’s true.
The trick is, you have to freeze them in a sugary BRINE. If you try to just freeze them raw, they’ll turn into a mushy mess when you thaw them.
And that’s just gross.
To show you how it’s done, I put together a video for you, which you can watch here.
The recipe kind of tastes like a cucumber salad!
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
2 qt. sliced cucumber
1 large red onion or sweet onion, sliced
1 cup white vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1 1/2 c. sugar — you can do less if this feels too much
1-2 t. kosher salt
Fresh dill, optional
Directions:
- Dump onion and cucumbers in a big bowl. Add 1-2 teaspoons of the salt and mix it all up with your hands. Cover bowl and chill in fridge for 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, prepare the brine: Heat the sugar and vinegar in a pot on the stove until sugar dissolves. Let it cool to room temperature. This is important.
- After the cukes have chilled for 2 hours, rinse the salt off in a strainer with water. Pour cukes back into bowl. Pour the brine over the cucumber mixture and mix well with your hands.
- Pack into freezer containers – I use Ziplocks. Be sure to spoon in some of that juicy brine into the bag!
I challenge you to TRY this. See if you like the crunch factor. It’s not going to be super crunchy… but it will still be pretty good. I’ve had a lot of my Farm Box CSA members try it and say that although they were skeptical at first, they really liked it!
It’s become a classic freezing strategy for many of us who get overwhelmed with cucumbers!
Tell me what you think!