Cucumbers are good for everyone: they are tasty, low-calorie, rich in vitamins and especially microelements, including such important for the vital functions of the body as potassium, iodine, zinc, iron, copper. But is there any benefit to bitter cucumber?
Cucumbers are almost 95% water, so they are great for diet food. They are delicious on their own, and in salads, and prepared for future use - salted, pickled. But sometimes among the cucumbers there are bitter specimens. What to do with them?
What Causes Cucumber Bitterness
The unpleasant bitter taste of cucumber is given by the substance cucurbitacin, which this vegetable produces under certain conditions. It mainly depends on temperature, humidity and light level. The cucumber “doesn’t like” sudden temperature changes, cool weather, lack of water and prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. For him, such conditions are stress, and he begins to produce cucurbitacin, as a kind of protection.
The homeland of the cucumber is the hot Indian jungle, where it grows in the shade of tall plants. In the conditions of central Russia, frequent cold snaps (up to recurrent frosts) are common.
The bitter substance accumulates mainly in the skin of the cucumber. There is especially a lot of it near the stalk, so when preparing cucumber salad, you need to cut it off.
Why is bitter cucumber useful?
More recently, it was discovered that cucurbeticin has the ability to inhibit the pathological growth of body tissues. That is, it has a pronounced anti-cancer effect. Therefore, for the purpose of prevention, it does not hurt to eat bitter cucumbers at least sometimes.
This is especially important for people at risk, that is, those who work with hazardous substances, who live in areas with unfavorable ecology, who have people in their family, who have cancer, etc.
There is evidence that cucumbers, rich in cucurbeticin, are very useful for the functioning of the heart, pancreas, small intestine, and liver. Also, if you peel off bitter cucumbers, dry them, and grind them to a powdery state, you get a good dusting. It can be successfully used for burns, diaper rash, pustular rash. Therefore, you should not throw away bitter cucumbers. Of course, their taste is not very pleasant, but they are healthy.
In addition, bitter cucumbers can be used for pickling, since during heat treatment (pouring boiling water), cucurbeticin is almost completely transferred from the peel to the water.
In addition, bitter cucumbers normalize blood sugar. Also, the peel contains a lot of vitamin C and a substance that helps to lose weight.
