food, preserving, seasonal feature, summer
comments 13

lacto-fermented dill pickles

fermented dill pickles

This isn’t a recipe for sweet bread and butter pickles that you pile onto your summer burger. These pickles are something quite different.

flowering dill head // witchin' in the kitchen

These pickles are alive. Lacto-fermented for a week in brine heavily seasoned with garlic and flowering dill, simple Kirby cucumbers transform into crisp, sour pickles, filled with beneficial bacteria that improve digestion and overall health.

sunshine dill pickles // witchin' in the kitchen

The process is simple. In a large jar, layer small pickling cucumbers with garlic cloves, flowering dill heads, some black peppercorns, and fresh grape leaves (if you have them), whose tannins will keep the pickles crisp and crunchy. Submerge the cucumbers in a basic brine solution, sit them in a sunny spot on your counter for several days, and enjoy with a stacked sandwich.

flowering dill head // witchin' in the kitchen

sunshine dill pickles // witchin' in the kitchen

sunshine dill pickles // witchin' in the kitchen

lacto-fermented dill pickles

2 pounds small Kirby cucumbers (or other pickling cucumbers)
2 flowering dill heads
4 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
a couple fresh grape leaves (optional)

basic brine solution: Mix 1 tablespoon of salt to 1 cup of filtered water.

Pack the ingredients in a quart-sized mason jar. Mix up a basic brine solution and submerge all ingredients beneath the brine. Anything above the brine solution will rot. Keep everything below the brine line by filling a ziploc plastic bag with brine solution and putting inside the top of the jar to weigh down the cucumbers.

Screw on a lid loosely, and store in a shallow bowl on the kitchen counter for 5 days. The brine will bubble and may spill over – that’s normal and that’s what the bowl is for! Taste your pickles after 5 days for flavor. I’ve kept mine on the counter for 2 weeks now, and they keep getting better and better.

After 3 weeks max, store your pickles in the refrigerator, where they will keep for six months or more.

13 Comments

  1. Linda says

    I don’t eat pickles but love cucumber we always have ours in a salad

    Reply
  2. Why are these lacto-fermented? Does lacto-fermentation usually involve whey? I’ve been wondering about this. I’m new to this fermentation thing. I made my first batch of salt-water brine fermented pickles just a couple weeks ago.

    Reply
    • Great question! While one method of fermentation could involve using whey, this method of fermenting a food in a salt brine produces lactic acid – hence the “lacto-fermentation”. Jenny of Nourished Kitchen puts it this way:

      “This brine helps to keep pathogenic bacteria at bay while encouraging the growth of beneficial bacteria which metabolize the vegetable’s natural sugars and produce lactic and acetic acids as a by product.”

      More of her article is here: http://nourishedkitchen.com/sour-pickles/#ixzz2ckfuTBef

      Hope that clears it up!

      Reply
  3. these pictures are beautiful! I am so going to make these. So simple and I have been meaning to try my hand at fermented veggies, this seems like a good recipe to start with <3

    Reply
  4. I’ve been wanting to try this type of pickling for a while…I bet my kids will be asking ‘are they ready yet?’ every day!!

    Reply
  5. Ola says

    All my life I was thinking that in the other countries no one makes it that way! That’s typically eastern europe recipe and many people think that that cucumers are just rotten. You surpised me so much! In Poland we’re adding small slices of horseradish into the jar, not grape leaves. I’m so happy, that I found your blog!

    Reply
  6. I wont eat Sweet Pickles but I remember the books from when I was little after reading this post. I just did a write up on Tumeric and came across the blog Three Fat Chics that suggested using it for canning pickles. They had a tea recipe for Tumeric also.

    Reply

Leave a Reply