How to Store Cucumbers for Weeks

Cucumbers are fickle as a pickle when it comes to storing them. Do they go in the fridge or somewhere else? Don’t make it dirty!

When it comes to keeping fresh cucumbers crisp and crunchy, the way to store them might surprise you. But stored properly, they can last for weeks. Yes, weeks.

First, let’s make sure we are talking about the right cuke!

Slicing Cucumbers vs. English Cucumbers vs. Pickling Cucumbers

There are over 100 varieties of cucumbers in the world, native to South Asia, and they are members of the gourd family and grow on creeping vines. However, the most common cucumber varieties are slicing (regular cucumbers), English, and pickling.

You are probably most familiar with slicing cucumbers here in the U.S. English cukes, typically longer and wrapped in plastic, are sometimes also referred to as seedless cucumbers.

All of them are similar in appearance, but how they are prepared and consumed is what really makes them different.

Slicing Cucumbers (AKA Regular Cucumbers)

  • Tough, uniform, dark green skin.
  • Slightly bitter.
  • Typically cheaper of the three.

English Cucumbers

  • Thinner, more edible skin.
  • Mild flavor and slightly sweet.
  • Typically wrapped in plastic.

Pickling Cucumbers

  • Short with bumpy skin.
  • Vary in color from yellow to green.
  • Typically grown for uniformity.

How to Store Slicing Cucumbers

Cucumbers hate the cold.

According to research by the University of California at Davis, slicing cucumbers prefer a temperature between 50 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit, with relative humidity. Anything colder causes them to spoil and decay more quickly. They get a cold injury, causing soft spots, pitting, and wateriness (they get slimy AF).

Best place to store cucumbers: room temperature on the counter, away from sunlight. Stored this way, they can keep for 10 to 14 days. I have had them last even longer. Weeks!

Now, you can store them outside the fridge. If the conditions inside your home do not meet the required temperature listed above, yes, put them in the refrigerator. Stored this way, they will keep fresh for about 3 days.

We recommend storing them in the warmest part of the fridge, like at the front of the shelf, and not on the bottom shelf. Even better, use the fridge door.

Whatever way you store them, do not wash your cucumbers before using them. Yes, they are blasted with water in the grocery store, where they are stored, out in the open. There, they can dry completely, not damaging the produce. You ain’t Whole Foods!

How to Store Cut Cucumbers

While we are focusing on whole cukes here, if you do slice them up, best to store them in an airtight container in the fridge and use them up within 3 days. Lining the container with a paper towel can help preserve them, but really, best not to chop em up until you are ready to eat them.

If the cucumber is mostly whole, wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap or a beeswax wrapper. As plastic free as we like to be, the plastic wrap will work better. Just saying.

Another consideration for storing whole regular cucumbers is ethylene gas.

Cucumbers & Ethylene Gas

Ethylene is a natural plant hormone released in the form of a gas that causes the cells within fruits and vegetables to degrade. This can mean fruit getting softer and sweeter, but also black and fuzzy. All produce puts off some level of ethylene gas and all produce is sensitive to it on some level.

For example, you can quickly ripen an avocado, which is highly sensitive to ethylene, by placing it in a sealed paper bag with a banana, which is a high ethylene gas producer. The magic of mother fuck’n nature!

But what about cucumbers:

  • Low ethylene gas emitters.
  • Highly sensitive to ethylene gas.

Because cucumbers emit low amounts of ethylene, you can store them next to any produce that isn’t too sensitive to the plant hormone, but you should not store them next to high to medium emitting produce.

Ethylene Producing Fruits & Vegetables

  • Apples
  • Apricots
  • Avocados
  • Ripening Bananas
  • Cantaloupe
  • Cherimoyas
  • Figs
  • Honeydew
  • Kiwifruit
  • Mamey Sapote
  • Mangoes
  • Mangosteen
  • Nectarines
  • Papayas
  • Passion Fruit
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Persimmons
  • Plantains
  • Plums
  • Prunes
  • Quince
  • Tomatoes

Can I Freeze Cucumbers?

Yes, you can freeze them if you wish. An obvious question with cukes having such a limited lifespan. However, they will lose their signature crunch. You can freeze them whole or sliced.

Freezing them is a great option for cucumber water, where the crunch is not required. You can also use frozen cucumbers in gazpacho or smoothies.

Outside of freezing, the only other long term option is pickling.