Oversized cukes need not be cast away

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The scene in the late-summer garden can have something of an out-of-control flair to it. Enormous tomato plants drape heavily over the picket fence. Eight-foot-tall stems of marshmallow waver back and forth in the breeze. The red rims of turnips temptingly poke out of the soil. Autumn asters show off their lusty color while most of the other garden flowers lack enthusiasm of any sort.

Best of all, cordwood-sized cucumbers bulge out from under yellowing, summer-weary leaves. At this time of the season, it’s hard to recollect the complete and utter zeal with which the first cucumber was greeted. “Did I say nothing tastes more refreshing then that first ‘Early Fortune?'” you find yourself saying to your neighbor. “Because my skin is practically green, I’ve eaten so many of the things. I don’t think I’ll ever need to see another cucumber again. But then again, I say that every year, don’t I?”

Ah, the oversized cucumber. Nothing evokes more disdain, except, perhaps, the oversized zucchini. This puzzling problem of autumn afflicts practically every gardener. Try as we might to keep up with the harvest, one never can seem to pick every cucumber on time. Suddenly, surveying the gardening one crisp morning, we see a surprisingly large crop of gigantic fruits that escaped our searching eyes.

Gardeners aren’t alone, it turns out. Farmers growing cukes for the pickle market have the same problem. After all their growing efforts, farmers find their oversized cucumbers are usually rejected by pickle processors. Down in the great cucumber state of Arkansas, researchers are trying to reclaim marketable value from those discarded fruits.

“Discarded cucumbers are sort of a unique waste material because they’re in great shape,” Ron Buescher, a food biochemist and food scientist said. “They’re just too large and too mature for use in pickled products.”

Buescher said 10 percent to 20 percent of pickling cucumbers grown in the United States are rejected because they are oversized. Some of them are fed to farm animals, but most are hauled back to the fields and discarded. “There’s a huge volume of good cucumbers going to waste, so we set out to find marketable uses for it.”

Buescher and other food scientists thought flavor extracts from cucumbers might just be a marketable material. They conducted several studies which found the “flavor volatiles” of oversized cukes could be used in a wide range of products, from foods to cosmetics. They found the essence of cucumbers is actually quite valuable.

“The natural flavors, used at low concentrations, are potent inhibitors of microbial growth, including food-borne pathogens,” Buescher said. “We’ve used them as a treatment that inhibits the growth of yeast and mold on cheese, extending its shelf life, and have found uses for them in makeup and deodorant products.

Some foods, such as salad dressings and sauces, use synthetic cucumber flavoring, he said. “Why not use natural flavoring when there’s so much of it available from an otherwise discarded source? We’ve found cucumber flavor extracts improve flavor characteristics in many food products.

“We can even use them to improve the natural flavors in pickle products,” he said. Who’d have guessed?

Speaking of pickles, on the home front, oversized cucumbers actually do make quite acceptable pickles and relishes, if one is willing to put in a bit of extra work preparing them during processing. Ideally, only fresh, blemish-free fruits should be used for preserving, and this rule doesn’t necessarily rule out large cucumbers.

Try these recipes with the cukes from your garden, however large. If the harvest is on the overripe side, simply peel the cucumbers, slice them open, and scoop out and discard the sometimes-sour-tasting seeds as you would a melon.

Pickled Bread-And-Butter Pickles

Makes 8 to 9 pints.

16 cups fresh cucumbers, sliced (3/16-inch thick)

4 cups onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup canning or pickling salt

4 cups white vinegar (5 percent acidity)

2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons mustard seed

2 tablespoons celery seed

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

Cover cucumbers and onion with 1 inch ice water and salt. Let stand 2 hours; drain thoroughly. Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed and turmeric. Bring to a boil; add cucumbers and onions. Simmer 5 minutes. Fill jars with mixture and pickling solution, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rims. Adjust lids. Process pints or quarts in a boiling water-bath canner for 15 minutes.

Pickle Relish

Makes 9 pints or 18 half-pints.

3 quarts finely chopped cucumbers

3 cups finely chopped green peppers

3 cups finely chopped red peppers

1 cup finely chopped onions

3/4 cup canning or pickling salt

4 cups ice

8 cups water

4 teaspoons each mustard seed, turmeric, whole allspice and whole cloves

2 cups sugar

6 cups white vinegar (5 percent acidity)

Add cucumbers, peppers, onions, salt and ice to water and let stand four hours. Drain and re-cover vegetables with fresh ice water for another hour. Drain again.

Combine spices in a spice or cheesecloth bag. Add spices to sugar and vinegar. Heat to boiling and pour mixture over vegetables. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Heat pickle mixture to boiling and fill hot into clean jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rims. Adjust lids. Process pints or half-pints in a boiling water-bath canner for 15.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, 512 North Ridge Road, Montville 04941 or e-mail dianagc@midcoast.com. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.