As I'm writing this I'm taking a break with a glass of kombucha and celebrating that I am DONE putting up the pickles for this year. In typical Kim-fashion I bought a huge 25 pound bag of local pickling cucumbers at one of our area farm stores. I hid it from my husband in the garage fridge (I was amazed it fit in there) because I knew what he was going to say… “who is going to eat all of these pickles??” Well, hopefully WE will!
I've done sauerkraut, ginger carrots and beets, but I had yet to do real dill pickles the lacto-fermented way, with no vinegar. The garlicky, sour and salty pickle that you would get from a great deli in New York City. You can see the results in the picture above – whole pickles with onion, garlic and dill in one of my two gallon glass jars (I have yet to find a ceramic crock). The orange glow is from the plastic plate that I also have weighted down with a mason jar full of water.
As typical for Nourishing Traditions recipes, the hardest part about making pickles is gathering the supplies and preparing the containers and ingredients. The actual ‘making of the pickles' is pretty quick, especially for the whole dill pickles. The sliced also go quickly if you have a food processor. If you're interested in the statistics, here's what I was able to do with 25 pounds of cucumbers:
- 4 gallons whole garlic onion dills (this recipe)
- 2 gallons sliced bread & butter (sweet) style pickles
- 1 gallon garlic onion dill pickle ‘chips' (this recipe except cucumbers sliced into chips)
Yeah, pretty sure we'll have enough for the year! Enjoy the pickle recipe below and please feel free to share any insight or knowledge that you have regarding lacto-fermentation of cucumbers in the comments.
Tips for making Cucumber Pickles
- Add one grape leaf per quart to ensure that pickles stay crisp when they are fully fermented. They will last longer in the fridge too!
- Some time saving things that I did: I plugged up the sink and washed all of the cucumbers at once. I also rolled all of the garlic cloves (8 heads worth!) in this garlic peeler. It made it go MUCH quicker.
Fermented Cucumber Pickles
Rating: 3 forks (key)
Difficulty: Easy
Page in NT: 97 Yield: 1 quart
Ingredients:
- 4-5 pickling cucumbers or 15-20 gherkins
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, snipped [TNC: I also added the stems. Add the flowering top too if you have it]
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 4 tablespoons whey (if not available or for casein/dairy free, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt)
- 1 cup filtered water
- [TNC added: 1/2 garlic head's worth of cloves and 1/2 onion per quart]
Preparation:
Wash cucumbers well and place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over cucumbers, adding more water if necessary to cover the cucumbers. The top of the liquid should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.
Variation: Pickled Cucumber Slices Wash cucumbers well and slice at 1/4 inch intervals. Proceed with recipe. Pickles will be ready for cold storage after about 2 days at room temperature.
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a brother-in-law who is dairy alergic including whey. Very curious to try these as we have only made pickles with vinegar and boiling water bath canned for long-term shekf storage.
Will these really turn out OK, with just added salt and will they still ferment properly to get the added benefit of live bacteria? This is probably one of those moments that will amaze me and others will say “duh!”
Hi Gus… thanks for the question, it’s a good one! Vinegar pickles is really a more recent invention that allowed the food industry to provide ‘shelf-stable’ pickles that needed no refrigeration. They don’t resemble the fermented version nutritionally though. Fermentation was the original way to preserve vegetables and fruits. That being said, you don’t ‘need’ whey to ferment vegetables, but it just gives the pickles a head start with good bacteria.
If you can’t or don’t want to use whey, that is totally fine. You just need to double the salt in the recipe that includes whey, or even just use lemon juice instead of the whey and leave the salt the same. Really the role of the salt/lemon juice is to ensure that bad bacterial growth doesn’t happen while the ‘good’ bacteria have a chance to multiply and preserve the food.
I hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions…
Just wanted to let you know that I made these last fall without the whey and they turned out fantastic. I put a current leaf on top (I didn’t have access to a grape leaf but I do this year. Yay! Apparently, they help keep the pickles crisp.) before putting an airlock lid on top but I don’t think those are necessary, they just help a little bit. The only downside to making homemade pickles is that I have not wanted to eat a store-bought pickle since. I will be making enough to last a couple of months this time. I just set a jar on my pantry shelf to start fermenting. I can’t wait.
Wow, 25 pouds of pickles. That would be our dream come true. Don’t have enough storage space for them right now…. but, someday. Enjoy those tasty treats.
I just did a small batch of this this week to see how we like the version I made (no mustard, lots of garlic)! I’m so excited!
Also, I heard that if you have ACE hardware stores around you that you can call in and have them order a crock for you and have it delievered to the store at no cost…and they should be a great price for crocks! These are also the “safer” crocks…I guess some of the older ones are not as safe to use because of the material it is made out of.
these are great!
I probably sound like a broken record, but I’m going to write it anyway: this is yet another food that I can not eat store bought because it is a migraine trigger. And this is yet another NT recipe that I have made and have had no migraines from! The way a food is made makes all the difference.
I didn’t eat pickles for more than ten years. Nevertheless, thanks to NT and WAPF- I can eat them once again. Hooray!
im really thankful that I just came upon your blog. I’m definitely going to start following you! so ive been fermenting tons of stuff in the fallon way, and though i love all the tastes, im definitely battling the fermented smells. especially from the batch of pickled garlic I made, by following her recipe. the only difference was that I didnt bake my garlic, but instead fermented it raw. it smells really, really strong. makes me gag a little! but it tastes fine. what do you think? is it safe.
I am curious to know, that if after the fermenting stage if you would be able to “can” these pickles in a water bath? I’d like to know because I do not have extra cold storage space, and am used to making small batches of pickles, but if they do well in my garden this year, would like to put up some crunchy pickles for later use in the year. I hate the normal soggy canned pickles. Any ideas on this?
Is there a way to seal can fermented pickles so that I don’t have to refrigerate them after I have made them? I have limited fridge space!
Thanks for the recipe. I made these a few days ago and loved it. Now that we’ve eaten the pickles is the liquid usable for something? I would think that the beneficial bacteria is also in the liquid.
Seems like you could use them in any salad dressing. Just be aware that it is super salty tasting and adjust the recipe. I’d be willing to experiment with a three (four?) bean salad using the liquid as part of the dressing. That’d most likely be good, but it would need some experimentation.
When you say “cover tightly” do you mean with a canning lid and ring?
I’m confused…what’s “cold storage”? Does that mean in the fridge?
Is there a way to seal can fermented pickles so that I don’t have to refrigerate them after I have made them? I have limited fridge space!
I totally understand the lack of fridge space! You could probably ‘can’ the pickles (consult your “Ball book” canning guide), but it kind of defeats the point of lacto-fermenting them, as the canning process will kill everything good in the pickles that you worked hard to get in there. Many people use a cellar, basement, or underground type storage for their lactoferments and that works well. I’ve heard of people even storing their ferments under their house. Cold storage can really be fridge or these other options.
I have to say these pickles are excellent! The cucumbers quickly take on the delicious, fresh taste of the dill and the garlic in a way that just doesn’t happen with homemade vinegar-pickled cucumbers. I found these pickles were ready in just 24 hours, so there is no need to make a huge batch and then try to find storage space for them. They’re ready so quickly, you can just make a batch anytime you need them.
I made a gallon of pickles this week using this recipe, adding the extra salt because I did not have whey available. My pickles (I tested one) are so incredibly salty as to be inedible. I poured out ~1/3 of the liquid and added new spring water, and sat the jars back on the counter. I hope this will pull some of the salt from the pickles. I also added new mustard and celery seed and hope the pickle flavor develops properly since I did not have any more fresh dill in the garden. I really like this site in general, so am disappointed in this recipe’s outcome. The Wild Fermentation site and other sites recommend somewhere in the realm of 1tbs sea salt per cup, 3tbs per quart, regardless of whey. After looking at these web recipes, following my awful taste test, 2 tbs salt just seems entirely wrong.
Hi Stacy, sorry that you had a bad experience. Is the sea salt you used pure white?
I just tasted the first pickle I made using the recipe from my NT book. Delicious! And so much easier than using brine. As for not having whey, what I did was leave about 1 cup of cultured buttermilk, purchased at the store, mixed with 1 cup regular milk (in order to be frugal) on the counter until it sort of separated. Then I poured it into a clean tea towel, tied a string around it to make a bag, and hung it from a wooden spoon over a bowl. I’m not sure how long it took, but I ended up with whey for my pickles in the bowl, and cream cheese for I’m-not-sure-yet in the tea towel. I made this batch on July 27, and left it alone until today since I had no idea how soon they could be eaten. Now I need to make sure I don’t eat them all before the rest of the family has a chance to taste them!
Concerned about the smell of these…. I tried my niece’s pickles (same recipe) and they tasted great – I don’t remember the smell emanating from her jar like mine. I haven’t tasted mine yet – I just stuck them in the fridge this morning and will taste-test them tonight. The smell is fairly indecent – like (and I apologize for the reference) like bad gas. My son opened the jar and I actually thought it was him, not the pickles. Again, sorry. It was a funny moment, but then I was concerned I had some type of spoilage. Is it normal? thanks!
Chris… I’ve noticed the gassy smell too when my ferments are still warm. When they are refrigerated they seem to settle down a bit. Take a tiny taste and trust your judgment though. You’re probably just smelling the gases that the pickles are putting off, not the actual brine/pickles themselves, but this is just a guess. I hope it goes well!
I was interested to read how you make your lacto-fermented dill pickles. I follow a different recipe without using whey. My mother used the recipe for decades, and I’ve been using it for about the past 7 years. The pickles are always excellent, and don’t seem to be overly salty…at least not to me.
For 1 quart I put garlic and dill into the sealer, add 1/2 teaspoon pickling spice, then pack the cucumbers into the sealer, adding more garlic and dill on top. The cucumbers may be cut if necessary to make them fit more easily. Add 1 tablespoon pickling salt, 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, and then fill the sealer to within 1/4 inch of the top with cool water…I always use ordinary tap water straight from the tap. Put the lid on the sealer and shake until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Keep the sealers at room temperature on a tray or a towel in case they leak as they ferment. The warmer the room, the faster they ferment, and are more likely they are to leak.
Depending on the type of lids you use, you may need to release some of the pressure that builds up after 2 or 3 days as the fermentation takes place. This may happen with metal lids. I use my mom’s old sealers with glass lids and rubber rings, so I don’t have a problem with the lids bulging the way metal lids might. Usually after the third day the brine turns cloudy, indicating they are fermenting properly, and in another day or two they’re ready to eat. They may still be quite mild…it depends on how warm your room is while they ferment, but you can leave them longer if you want them stronger. They should be stored in a cool location such as the basement (or fridge) if you aren’t going to eat them right away. An interesting thing about these pickles, and a good indication they’ve fermented properly, is that when you open the sealer they fizz…sometimes to the point that some of the brine gushes out of the sealer as you’re opening it. Always open the sealer in the sink, unless you want a potential mess to clean up! Sometimes they only fizz a little, but if they don’t fizz at all something may have gone wrong. They may still be fine to eat, but it’s normal to have at least some fizzing.
We used to eat these right through the winter into the following spring, before Mom would bring them up from the basement and dump out any remaining sealers in order to get them ready for new pickles.
Rick, what a wonderful recipe thanks for sharing! And the method is so simple. I love these recipes that get passed on in families. And your tip about cutting the blossom end is priceless!!
Just curious, have you ever used anything but white sugar, such as rapadura or coconut sugar instead for this? I imagine that the sugar is really the “food” for the ferment while it’s fermenting (similar to kombucha). Does the final product taste sweet at all?
Hi Kim,
No, I’ve never tried anything but white sugar, but it might be interesting to see if it makes a difference to use something else. My only problem is that I have to buy my cucumbers, so I don’t have a lot to experiment with. And since the pickles always work well for me this way, I’d hate to spoil a sealer and waste the cucumbers if they didn’t turn out. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Haha! No, they don’t taste sweet at all either…just really, really good! I forgot to add the pickling spice to one sealer this summer, and I didn’t like the resulting flavour as well. Those pickles seemed saltier, and they didn’t have the ‘zip’ that they do when you use the pickling spice. They must pick up a bit of heat from the mustard seed and dried red pepper flakes in the pickling spice. A cousin of mine said she also includes some hot red peppers (fresh or dried) in her sealers, because she and her husband like the pickles with a bit more heat. I’ve also added thin carrots and green or yellow beans with the cucumbers if I didn’t have enough cucumbers to fill the space in the sealers. They seem to take a few days longer to ferment, and don’t seem to taste quite the same, but they’re still really good, as are both the carrots and beans!
I forgot to mention that if you cut 1/4 inch off the blossom end of the cucumbers, it will prevent them from releasing an enzyme that otherwise would make the pickles soft.
You can get 2 gallon crocks from https://www.fhsteinbart.com/index.php, they are plentiful and reasonably priced. I prefer Plastic buckets as they can be sealed off with an air-lock. But some folks like the old fashioned crocks, so there you go.
Cheers!
Michel
This is such a great recipe! I love how simple it is to do and understand. Plus, the no vinegar aspect will be a really big plus for me. This is my first year having a garden, and I am hoping that I can get some pickles of of the cucumbers that I grow. My mom used to make her own pickles, and they tasted so good. I’m really hoping that my pickles will turn out like hers.
Thanks for this !
1) How much “head-space” do you leave in the mason jars before sealing the lids ?
2) How long to ferment ? or is it ‘to one’s own taste’ ?
3) Do you need to do the whole canning bath thing to get the vacuum seal on the mason lids ? If not, how do you get the vacuum seal ?
Many thanks !
Mark
Hello! I’m a newbie to making pickles. I want to try this recipe. I’m curious if I can use the liquid from real fermented sauerkraut in place of the whey. Does anyone know if this is a possibility?
I have never done this but I think it would work! Great idea, I’m going to try this myself.