This time we are continuing in our fermentation series with sour dill pickles, and also some hot ones too. Here’s our recipe:
Sour Dill Pickles
1 lb cucumbers (getting small ones and leaving them whole is best)
1 grape leaf (substitute extra bay leaves if you can’t get this)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
4 cloves garlic, peeled
Dill (use what you can find, fresh is best)
1 tablespoon Pickling Spice (optional, but it has cloves and mustard seeds in it(apparently good stuff))
Brine: 1 tablespoon + teaspoon salt dissolved in 2 cups of water
First thing you’re gunna do is wash all the cucumbers, soak them in an ice bath for like an hour. Then chop ‘em up.
Clean out a 1 quart mason jar and place the grape leaf, bay leaf, garlic cloves, dill, pickling spice and other spices into the jar.
Stuff as many cucumbers into the jar as you can, but be careful not to bruise them.
Make the brine and fill up the jar.
If you have a weight to hold down the pickles use it here, if you don’t just fill up a plastic bag with more brine and put it on top. The goal is to keep all the cucumbers submerged below the liquid.
you can’t see our weight here… because its glass… so its invisible… but trust me… its there….
Gently shake up the jar with the real lid on to get rid of the bubbles, then replace the lid with the fun colored fermenting nipple lid.
The actual fermentation process:
Store the jar in a dark place, between 65 F and 75 F (18.3 C to 23.8 C). Bubbles should form within 24 hours. Skim off any material that might form at the top after several days (gross). If the material is white, this is a yeast and usually harmless. If some kind of colored mold takes hold, it may mean your batch is no good. The liquid in the pickle jar will end up cloudy, this is good because it means the ferment is working. If you sliced your dill pickles, the ferment should happen quicker. For sliced dill pickles 3 or 4 days should be enough. Slicing them may make the pickles mushy. Whole pickles as the recipe implies should take longer than 4 days. After 4 days, taste test a pickle, and if it is not ready let the ferment go longer. 7 days may be what is required. Final result is subject to your own preference and room temperature so tasting the batch as it goes is pretty normal.
When it’s actually done is up to you. You have to be the final judge as to whether the batch fermented correctly or something went wrong. So, some pretty big responsibility here. When you’ve decided it’s all done, put it in the fridge for storage.
We put ours on some sandwiches after fermenting for 4 days.
Happy Pickling!