Crafts, Cooking, Farmers Market Addictions: Fermented Pickles

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved pickles, especially dill or sour pickles and homemade pickles are the best. I have memories of my great Aunt Dorothy making fermented pickles and having the huge jars in her bedroom until they were ready to eat. My parents, brother and I moved to Oklahoma from California when I was in 1st grade and moved in with Grandma and Aunt Dorothy in a 2 bedroom duplex. It was crowded with my parents and brother in one room, Aunt Dorothy and I in the other and Grandma slept on the fold out couch. We only lived there about 6 months then moved into a house. I watched those pickle jars for days until it was time to crack them open and they were the best tasting pickles ever. Both of my daughters love pickles as well. My oldest, Tabitha, started eating sour pickles as a baby. Everyone was amazed that she loved them. Over the years, I've made my own pickles, canned various kinds and also made easy refrigerator pickles with cucumbers and also radishes (see previous blog post, All things Pickled from Sept 2018). The last couple of years I've gotten into fermenting and am hooked, it's so easy, doesn't take as much time to do as canning and doesn't need much in the way of special equipment. I've been making sauerkraut, garlic paste, onion and pepper relish and dill pickles. There is nothing like a home fermented dill pickle, they are so good. I've even gotten my youngest daughter, Aubree, hooked on fermenting. I was talking to her a couple of weekends ago and we got to talking about pickles because a friend had given me a bunch of pickling cucumbers from her garden and Aubree said she had pickling cucumbers as well so she asked me to email her my recipe. I made my pickles on a Saturday and she made hers the following Sunday. My family love homemade pickles.

Masontop fermenting lid

There are a lot of great fermenting books, plus recipes online and all kinds of equipment available but the very basic needs are mason jars, wide mouth works best, silicone airlock lids for mason jars (Masontops is the brand we have) filtered water and sea salt. If planning on doing a lot of fermenting then glass weights, canning funnel and a wooden tamper are useful as well. It's best to ferment in large jars then transfer finished pickles to smaller jars to be stored in the refrigerator. A friend gave me 3 huge 1/2 gallon jars that I use for my fermenting process but Aubree just uses quart jars. It is important to leave at least 3 inches at the top in order to add a weight to keep the cucumbers under the brine during the fermenting process. A glass weight or a Ziploc bag half way filled with water or combination works great to weight down the cucumbers. If using small cucumbers, keep whole or cut in half but cut off the blossom end. I prefer to slice mine in 1/2 slices. Pickling cucumbers or Persian cucumbers work the best for fermenting. My fermenting book states that the pickles will form from 7 to 10 days but to check them at day 7. However, in a hot environment, say no air conditioning or just a hot kitchen, that will speed up the fermenting process so check after day 4. The jars could mold if they get too hot. Aubree has mold problems with her 1st batch because her kitchen was hotter than mine so checked them after 4 days with her second batch and they were already fermented.

Here's the recipe:

Fermented Sour Pickles

6 to 8 pickling cucumbers, if small use whole (cut off blossom ends) or slice in 1/2 inch slices

1-2 T sea salt

2 sprigs fresh dill (can use dill seeds or combination of fresh and seeds)

1 T mustard seeds

1 t crushed red pepper flakes

1 t coriander seed

1-2 bay leaves

1 T black peppercorns

1 onion, thinly sliced

5-6 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 t loose green tea leaves (I cut open tea bags and put in 1 tea bag per jar)

3-4 cups of filtered water

To make brine, bring filtered water to boil and dissolve salt. Let cool. Place seasonings, onion, garlic and tea leaves in bottom of large wide mouth mason jars and pack in cucumbers in jars leaving at least 3 inches at top. Cover with brine until it reaches 1 inch above the top of the cucumbers. Place a piece of plastic wrap in the jar over the cucumbers and brine and then put a Ziploc sandwich bag in the jar (I put my glass weight in the bag for additional weight) and add water then close the bag. This will act as a weight to keep the cucumbers submerged in the brine. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE CUCUMBERS STAY SUBMURGED UNDER THE BRINE. Cover with fermenting lid and set on counter away from direct sunlight and in a cool place. Check each day to let out any air trapped in jar. Pickles will be ready in 7 to 10 days, start checking after day 4.