Saving Cucumber Seeds

[greenthumbomaha]

A few got away from me so I thought I would use them for seeds. I had no idea it took many weeks. Loosely paraphrased from Mother Earth News:

Thoroughly ripen on the vine - they will enlarge and turn yellow.
They should stay on the vines until the vines are dead.
Bring the cucumbers into the house and let them ripen further on a dry shelf
When the cucumbers begin to turn soft, scoop out the seed mass and put it into a large jar of water, ferment for five days, then separate the scum from the good seeds that have sunken to the bottom.
Rinse the seeds in a colander, then dry hem on screens for at least three weeks, or until the seed snaps when bent in half.

Takes a lot of patience.
- Lisa