July 26, 2024 – Ever bite into a whole cucumber or slice and find it bitter? Basically, the bitterness is caused by plant stress. It seems weird for a cucumber to be in stress, but the stress is caused by several factors such as genetics, widely fluctuating temperatures, poor soil, or inconsistent watering.
Cucumbers belong to the cucurbit or gourd family, and all members of this family produce cucurbitacin. It’s produced as a defense mechanism and makes the cucumber taste bitter! The objective is to prevent a pest eating one bitter cucumber from returning for a second one! In the wild, cucurbitacin can cause the fruit to become totally inedible!
Normally, most of the cucurbitacin is contained in the leaves, roots, and stems to deter pests from nibbling on them. As for the cucumber fruit, stress will put more cucurbitacin in them. So how do we deal with this potential problem?
Skin thickness is a genetic factor. Thin skinned cucumbers tend to generate cucurbitacin, but this applies mainly to heirlooms. Most hybrids have been bred to be less bitter. Higher temps, low temps, and wide temperature variations increase bitterness. Shade cloths can help here.
Consistent watering reduces stress. In hot summer weather, hand watering may be necessary. Rains throughout the season, however, tend to aggravate the problem. A huge problem, however, is caused by pest damage. Once a pest starts munching, cucurbitacin levels start to rise in all of that plant’s fruit. Pest controls and keeping the fruit off the ground tend to lessen this problem.
To counteract bitterness, cut a bit more off the butt end than usual, peel the skin, and wash the fruit. An alternative is to cut off the top end, and then rub the two pieces together for 10-20 seconds. I don’t understand how this works, but it does!
