Sour Pickles (Fermented)

Posted byNoriePosted inPickles, Ferments, Complements, Recipe
  • 6th day

Ingredients:

  • Pickling cucumbers, as many or as few as your harvest.
  • 1 head of flowering dill, or 2 tsp. dry dill weed, or 1 sprig dill weed, or 1 tsp. dry dill seeds per half-gallon jar
  • 2 Cloves garlic (sliced) per jar
  • 1 tsp. Coriander seeds per jar (optional)
  • 1 tsp. whole black peppercorn per jar
  • Bay leaf, crushed per jar
  • Ball Pickle Crisp can also be used if you want

BRINE:

  • 2 Tablespoons (1/8 cup) Kosher or Pickling salt
  • 1 quart (4 cups) filtered or boiled water

Rinse cucumbers well then slice off the cucumber blossom end (very important) thinly. The blossom end is opposite the stem end. The blossom ends have enzymes that will soften your cucumbers.

Using the brine proportion above, mix your solution as much as needed.  Dissolve the Kosher or pickling salt in the water.  Filtered water is preferred if your water is chlorinated (city water). 

Drop the other ingredients in the jars you will use then arrange the cucumbers in each jar. The bay leaf helps in making crisp pickles and so do grape leaves and white oak leaves.

Leave enough head room.  Fill the jars with the brine solution.  Make sure that the cucumbers are not floating by weighing them with a plastic bag filled with solution or water. Cover the jars.  Leave them undisturbed on the counter away from direct light.

Check them the next day or two.  Spin or shake the jar gently then loosen the jar lid and watch the brine fizz.  This is burping your ferments.  Do this every day or twice a day. 

You may notice foam or a white scum floating on the surface.  This is normal.  Skim it off, close the lid again and continue fermenting.  The brine may become cloudy and may have white sediment at the bottom.  These are all normal.  Just make sure the cucumbers are all under the brine.

After one week, you may taste a piece of the cucumber.  It will be almost ready but you may continue the fermentation for another week to a month depending on the taste you want.      

It tasted good on the sixth day and I could stop the fermentation here but I want it more sour.

Refrigerate to slow down or stop the fermentation when you are satisfied with your pickles. The pickles can be transferred to smaller jars then processed in water bath for 10 minutes. 

BRINE FOR FERMENTING

2 cups water

1 TBS Pickling salt

Tomatoes and peppers can also be fermented.