Fermented Dill Pickle Guide
Bulk Pickling Spice Blend
ingredients
- ¼ cup whole allspice
- ½ cup mustard seeds
- ¼ cup chopped, dried ginger root
- ¼ cup black peppercorns
- 6 dried bay leaves, torn into small pieces
- ¼ cup whole cloves
- ¼ cup dill seeds
- 1 tablespoon cardamom seeds, optional
- ¼ cup coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg, optional
- Red Pepper Flakes TT
Combine all ingredients, store in an airtight jar.
Pickle Recipe
ingredients
- 1 lb organic pickling cucumbers
- 1 quart cold purified water
- Fresh Dill, optional
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 3 Tbsp sea salt for Full-Sours, 2 Tbsp for Half-Sours
- 2-3 bay, grape, oak, or horseradish leaves OR a big pinch of black tea
- 1 tbsp pickling spices
Trim blossom end of cucumbers by ⅛ inch. Arrange grape leaves in the bottom of the jar or crock with the spices, reserving one for the top.
Cut cucumbers to desired size. Pack firmly and tightly into a jar.
Dissolve the salt in a quart of water and pour over the cucumbers until completely submerged.
Place saved grape leaf on top of the packed cucumbers, tucking excess down into the jar. Move to a dark cool cabinet with a shallow dish to catch any brine overflow. Ferment for six days or until desired texture is reached. Store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
Pickle Flavor Variations & Tips
For French-style cornichons, add tarragon to the brine.
For Polish-style pickles, double the garlic and increase the amount of black pepper and mustard seeds.
For bread and butter pickles, slice cucumbers before fermenting and add 2 tablespoons sugar or raw honey to the brine.
For relish, mince fermented pickles and white onion. Toss with a pinch of salt to extract excess liquid, set in a strainer over a bowl and drain for 3 hours. Discard liquid, wrap cucumbers and onion in cheese cloth and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Bring vinegar, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Boil until reduced to about 1/2 cup, 3 to 4 minutes. Add cucumber-onion mixture and simmer, stirring for about 2 minutes. Stir arrowroot or starch of choice into the mixture, then combine all ingredients. Turmeric powder can be added to tint the relish. Let cool and refrigerate before serving. Relish is a great way to utilize a batch of pickles that might have gotten too soft.
For Half-Sour Pickles, eaten when they are still somewhat bright, a 3.5% brine is recommended.
For Full Sour Pickles, use a 5% brine.
Only use pickling cucumbers. Select cucumbers that are smaller, and uniform in size. Cucumbers with a thicker skin are less likely to be bitter, avoid cucumbers that have been waxed. If you don't have access to firm, fresh cucumbers, soak them in ice water for an hour before fermenting.
The stem blossoms contain a enzyme that will soften your batch, be sure to clean and remove them before fermentation.
Tannins help strengthen the pectins in the cucumbers and keep pickles crispy. The addition of grape leaves or bay leaves are the most common ways to incorporate tannins.
Season more heavily than other ferments, pickles benefit from a strong brine.
I recommended a brine ratio in the range of 3.5% to 5.0%.
“Although brining recipes vary widely, 5 percent is a good brine strength to use as a starting point. While 5 would be extremely high in sauerkraut or kimchi, it is important to understand that 5 percent brine yields a much lower-salt product, because once the vegetables go into the brine, they absorb salt and release juices, thereby diluting the salt concentration by more than half. ”
