If you’re a huge fan of regular cucumbers and wondering if you could also eat the pickling cucumbers in the same manner, you’re right. Pickling cucumbers have high food value. Also, you can store them in cans for a long time after processing.
Can you eat pickling cucumbers?
You can surely eat pickling cucumbers as sliced, raw, or even by making pickles out of them. Pickling cucumbers have a very thin and delicate texture which doesn’t require you to peel them off. Moreover, their seeds are also soft-skinned which allows you to eat the whole cucumber.
Table of Contents
Yellow Pickling Cucumbers:
Cucumbers may turn yellow due to the presence of cucurbitacin. The cause of this yellow pigmentation may be overwatering, over-ripening, not providing enough fertilizers or any disease caused by the virus.
Moreover, if you plant the cucumber plants not providing adequate space, they’ll become deprived of enough airflow and sunlight. Which will affect the plants’ overall growth and you’re most likely to get not-so-fresh cucumbers.
Usually, cucumbers that are fresh and healthy have a dark green color with small seeds.
However, with wrong spacing, the soil will remain damped which is responsible for the yellow pigmentation. Generally, it is not ideal to pick a yellow pickling cucumber. As soon as, you notice yellow cucumbers in your garden, it is wise to cut them off.
National Pickling Cucumbers:
National Pickling Cucumber was introduced by the National Pickle Packers Association as a standard pickling variety of cucumbers. When they mature completely they become about 6” long in size with tapering ends.
The small size of National Pickling Cucumbers is also harvested at a length of 2-3’’ or 4-5 inches long. Such flexible size and structure of National Pickling Cucumbers effortlessly allow you to fit them into any pickling jar.
You can also consume them for fresh eating or as salads as well. In order to get the best harvest, you may want to plant them directly rather than transplanting them.
Since these are vining plants, install a strong framework so that they can climb up on those keeping 6-8 inches gap.
Boston Pickling Cucumbers:
Boston Pickling Cucumbers are green-colored with very thin skin. You’ll also find continuous vines on Boston Cucumbers, and the outer skin covers the full ends. Their solid and crispy flesh makes these cucumbers very suitable for pickling.
You can grow them from 3.5 to 6.6 inches according to your preference.
If you plan to harvest Boston Pickling Cucumbers in your garden, you have to maintain at least a distance of thirty-six to forty-eight inches between each plant.
Usually, these plants require fifty-five days to reach their mature stage. In order to get high yields, you must plant them where there is adequate sunlight and air throughout the day.
Are pickling cucumbers good to eat raw?
The soft skin, tender seeds, crunchy flesh of pickling cucumbers make them somewhat eligible to eat raw. Even though, pickling cucumbers taste best when pickled since they’re harvested for processing in the first place.
However, you can also serve pickling cucumbers slicing them raw for fresh eating.
If you plan to plan to have them raw, you must wait for them to reach the peak maturity stage, preferably when they’re six to nine inches long with dark green color, and tender skin. In fact, you can have pickling cucumbers raw without the hassle of peeling or seeding.
Can you eat pickling cucumbers off the vine?
You can definitely eat pickling cucumbers fresh off the vine. Since pickling cucumbers do not develop any longer after you remove them from the vine, you can serve them raw as salad.
Also, if you want to make pickles out of them, you may have to wait for the pickling cucumbers to reach their mature stage then, get them off the vibe to get the best results.
Not to mention, pickling cucumbers do not ripen off the vine-like watermelons, and Cantaloupes. Hence, you have to decide first how you want to eat them. Then pick the picking cucumbers off the vine to make your desired recipe.
You can pick the fresh and largest fruit from the plant and start processing your food immediately.
Do pickling cucumbers taste good?
Pickling cucumbers taste delicious when you cook them with the correct ratio of vinegar, salt, sugar, spices, and other firming agents. Apart from the cooking ingredients, you may want to look into the type and texture of the cucumbers you’re picking for pickling.
To have tasty pickling cucumbers, select the fresh and firm cucumbers from your garden in the morning. Try not to use purchased cucumbers, as they may not have the most tender texture; as a result, the spices may not get mixed well and the pickle may taste quite blunt.
Pick the firm, greenish, and tender cucumbers. The gherkins can be 6 inches long and the dills are 4 inches long. Select the type carefully before preparing your cucumbers. To get better and tastier pickles, clean them thoroughly and look out for any spoilage and remove them.
To prevent your pickles from mushing you can cut out the blossom end as well.
Thus, with the right proportions of the ingredients and freshly picked cucumbers, you can process deliciously prepared pickling cucumbers.
What are pickling cucumbers good for?
You’ll be surprised to know that there are many things that pickling cucumbers are good for. You can serve pickling cucumbers with rice and chicken curry as a side dish.
Not to mention, you can have them as an evening snack or in between your jogging; the salt and water content level in the cucumber pickles work well to beat the heat and the dehydration.
Furthermore, pickling cucumbers can be used by type 2 diabetes patients to keep their blood sugar levels under control. It also keeps your cholesterol levels in check. The antioxidants in the pickling cucumbers actively prevent the forming of cancer cells in your body.
Moreover, pickling cucumbers are good for your eye’s health as well and detoxify your body. It also improves the immune system and increases stamina in your body.
How to eat pickling cucumbers?
There are several ways you can adapt to eat pickling cucumbers. All of the ways ensure the nutrition quality of the cucumbers.
Three ways to eat pickling cucumbers –
As a side dish:
Pickling cucumbers serves really well as a side dish when you’re having rich and traditional food. With fried rice, chicken skew, beef skew, and with other meals, you can serve pickling cucumbers as sides.
Salads:
You can also eat pickling cucumbers as a raw and fresh salad. To make the dish more appetizing, you can add capsicum, cashew nuts, lettuces, and salt. This, indeed, will make a very good salad item for you to make a healthy diet.
Or, you can have it as a snack.
Processed food:
Pickling cucumbers were actually harvested to serve as processed food and for canning. The size and texture of pickling cucumbers make them more suitable for canning purposes. You can pick the best cucumbers from your garden and process them in cans.
Thus, you can eat pickling cucumbers throughout the year even off-season.
Is there a difference between pickling and regular cucumbers?
There are some obvious visual and non-visual differences between pickling and regular cucumbers. Differences between pickling and regular cucumbers –
Size:
The pickling cucumbers are much smaller in length than the regular cucumbers. Also, pickling cucumbers have tapered ends to make them fit inside cans. On the contrary, regular cucumbers tend to be longer than pickling ones.
Skin type:
Pickling cucumbers have much thinner skin than the regular ones so that the spices can penetrate through the skin and mix well with the flesh. Also, they have little bumps on their skin; whereas, regular cucumbers have a much smoother skin texture.
Color formation:
Pickling cucumbers have dark green color at the stem and a slightly lighter green color towards the end; whereas, regular cucumbers have consistent green color all over their body.
Do pickling cucumbers taste like regular cucumbers?
Pickling cucumbers do not necessarily taste like regular cucumbers at all. There is more flavor, tanginess, and sourness in the pickling cucumbers. Whereas regular cucumbers have more water content and due to the large seeds may taste a bit bitter.
Can guinea pigs eat pickling cucumbers?
Guinea pigs must not have pickling cucumbers on their diet. The majority of the diet may include fresh hay and the rest may consist of fresh veggies, for instance, carrots, broccoli, regular cucumber, spinach, but not pickling cucumbers.
Final thoughts:
As you can see, there’s no reason why you can’t eat pickling cucumbers. In fact, you can keep it as a subsidiary food item on your regular meals. Starting from an appetizer, side dish, snack, or after a meal, you can never go wrong with pickling cucumbers.