Bitter vegetables

kharrima

Why is that some vegetables (like lettuce and cucumbers) are often really bitter? When me and my husband did a study abroad a while back in Ireland, I could not stand to eat a salad. Their lettuce was always SO bitter. I bought some cucumbers the other day and they were the same way. I couldn't even eat them!!

anwsd

~NB~

Naturally occurring chemicals, some of which are powerful antioxidants. Also, you as an individual may be genetically sensitive to some of these compounds, making certain vegetables taste worse to you than to other people. Read on:

http://lancaster.unl.edu/hort/articles/2007/BitterCuke.shtml

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060918165721.htm

http://ihealunow.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/eggplants-a-bitter-taste-vegetables/

 

 

WendyGR

It depends on the variety. I've been getting used to bitter flavors as I learn more about foraging and bitter greens from our CSA. It's an acquired taste since we North Americans have been conditioned to crave salty and sweet. 

If you're growing your own lettuce that's not a bitter variety, it can become bitter when the weather gets too warm. 

kharrima

My grandma always said that if you don't water your lettuce enough, it is bitter. But in Ireland that was not the case. It rains there on a daily basis so I don't think it was the weather. It is not that I don't like vegetables and think they are ALL bitter I just occasionally will get a cucumber once a year or something that is so bitter I can't eat it. I love cucumbers and am very familiar with their taste and the ones that are bitter are very bitter!

Hey Jellisy

We had that problem last year with the cucumbers we grew.  I found that the bitter compound was in the skin, so once peeled it tasted just fine.  This year we grew a different variety and so far they are just plain sweet and juicy.