Easy Lacto-Fermented Pickles Recipe
Posted on Thursday, August 22, 2013 · 10 Comments
With our vegetable garden in full production mode and weekly CSA veggie shares from the Roots and Shoots farm we are getting quite a few perfect pickling cucumbers every week. So I thought I would share a recipe for Polish dill pickles in brine or in Polish – ogórki kiszone (oh-GOORR-kee kee-SHOH-neh). Those are not your typical vinegar cukes from the grocery store, instead they are… lacto-fermented pickles (of course 🙂 ) This means that they are full of good probiotic bacteria, vitamins, minerals and enzymes. In Poland in almost every household people prepare a lot of jars of brined pickles and then keep eating them until next summer. Yesterday I met with my friends from a local Holistic Moms group, we talked about different ways of preserving summer goodness and I promised to share my easy lacto-fermented pickle recipe on the blog so here it is…
Supplies:
- quart glass jars (or larger) with lids
Ingredients:
- pickling cucumbers – The best are small and medium ones and the best source is your own garden or organic. I think that the quality of cukes is really important, I tried twice to use store bought cucumbers and they didn’t turn out well
- 2-3 garlic cloves per jar (sliced in half)
- 2 dill stems with seeds per jar
- sea salt (1 table spoon per quart of water)
- filtered or spring water
Optional:
- mustard seeds (1 teaspoon per jar)
- a piece of horseradish root
- oak or sour cherry or raspberry or black currant leaves (3 -5 per jar)
HOW TO MAKE POLISH LACTO-FERMENTED DILL PICKLES
1. Start with washing the cucumbers with cold water and the jars with lids well with hot water. Some people recommend sterilizing the jars with boiling water and I do that sometimes, too.
2. Put one dill stem with a seed head on the bottom of each jar.
3. Place cucumbers in jars making sure that they are tight and cozy 🙂 . This is probably the most difficult part of the entire process, it’s kind of like making a puzzle, everything should fit well.
4. Add 2-3 sliced garlic cloves and one more dill head to each jar. Optionally you may add a teaspoon of mustard seeds, a few leaves or a couple of pieces of horseradish root. I especially love using oak leaves because the tannins in them help the pickles stay crunchy throughout the winter.
5. Dissolve the salt in filtered water, about 2 teaspoons per quart. You’ll need enough water to fill all the jars you are preparing. In season I usually make 1-3 jars at a time (as the cucumbers keep ripening in my garden) and for that I need between 1-2 quarts of hot salted water.
6. Turn off the water after it boils and pour hot into the jars to fill them almost to the brim. The cucumbers must be submerged fully, they should be tightly placed and shouldn’t float above the water level (otherwise they may spoil).
7. Cap the jars very tightly, turn them upside down and leave on the counter for 1-2 days. I discovered that when I use hot water and then flip the jars they don’t leak. I didn’t do that before and for several days I had to keep wiping the brine that was oozing from the jars as the fermentation started to take place. Now, when I turn them upside down, they are always dry.
8. After a couple of days you’ll see the color changing and the brine will turn a little cloudy like in a photo below. This is all good! You may then place them for longer storage in the basem*nt, pantry or some other cooler place. The pickles prepared that way will last until spring or even the following summer. When you open a jar and start eating your lacto-fermented pickles you’ll have to place it in the fridge afterwards.
Following exactly the same lacto-fermented pickles recipe you may also prepare a batch for an immediate use. In Polish these are called ogórki małosolne, which literally translates as“lightly salted pickles”.I always do that with the first cucumbers of the season. For that I use a ceramic container instead of jars with lids. It’s very important that during fermentation the cucumbers are fully submerged in brine. They do like to float to the top so it’s important to press them with a small plate or a tiny jar filled with water or a zip-lock bag filled with some water. These pickles are good to eat after 3-4 days. You can ferment them on the counter for up to 5-6 days and then put them in the fridge.They’ll be crunchier and less salty than those from the jars. Here is a photo of my first batch…We love them as a snack, in sandwiches, salads or as a side dish with any meat.
I hope that you’ll try my easy lacto-fermented pickles recipe and will like the results. Let me know if you have any questions, I’ll be glad to help. 🙂 And if you like the results you may try my other lacto-fermented recipes for kombucha, beet kvass, lacto-fermented vegetables or water kefir. Enjoy!
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Categories: What I love · Tags: how to make pickles in brine, lacto-fermented pickle recipe, lacto-fermented pickles without whey, polish dill pickles in brine, recipes
FAQs
For the lacto-fermented pickles, you want to make a simple salt-water brine that's approximately 3.5% salinity, which is 35 grams of salt per liter of water.
Is vinegar the same as lacto-fermented pickles? ›
Quick pickles, the most common type of pickle found in grocery stores, are not fermented because they use an acid, such as vinegar, in their pickling brine. However, Lacto-fermented pickles are fermented because they follow the lactic acid fermentation method, which only uses water and salt in its brine.
How long does it take to lacto ferment pickles? ›
The exact fermentation time is hard to predict, but generally it takes about 3 weeks to reach the half-sour stage and 6 weeks to reach the full-sour stage. When your pickles reach your desired sourness level, transfer to the refrigerator. The finished pickles can be refrigerated for up to 2 months.
What is the difference between dill pickles and fermented pickles? ›
An easy way to remember the difference between the two despite their overlap is that pickling involves putting food into an acidic brine to produce a sour flavor, whereas fermenting gives food a sour flavor without any added acid. Pickling is often the least healthy choice in terms of these two foods.
Why are my lacto fermented pickles mushy? ›
It may be a normal reaction during fermentation caused by bacteria. If the pickles are soft, they are spoiled from the yeast fermentation. Don't use them. Using too weak a salt brine or vinegar solution may cause soft or slippery pickles, as can using moldy garlic or storing the pickles at too warm a temperature.
Can I use iodized salt for lacto fermentation? ›
One of the best types of salt to ferment with is sea salt. Sea salt contains several nutrients, including trace amounts of magnesium, potassium and calcium. Picking salt and Kosher salt are also good to use. The type of salt you should avoid in fermentation is Iodized salt.
What is the white stuff on lacto fermented pickles? ›
White deposits at the bottom of the jar are normal – they're partly yeast and leftovers from fermentation (salt, sugar, etc.).
How do you keep lacto fermented pickles crispy? ›
Keep Fermentation Short
The longer the fermentation process, the softer the vegetables become. To limit this effect, only leave your pickles to ferment for a few days at room temperature, then refrigerate.
Are Vlasic pickles lacto fermented? ›
Most store-bought pickles are not fermented. Claussen pickles, Kosher pickles, Vlasic pickles, etc. are made using vinegar, heat processed to make them shelf stable, and usually contain preservatives (sodium benzoate), and other unwanted ingredients (natural flavor, polysorbate 80).
How to tell when fermented pickles are done? ›
2) Allow your ferment to go for 7 days untouched. After a day or two, you will start to see bubbles, and the brine will become cloudy. This is the beneficial bacteria doing their job! 3) Taste your ferment on day 7 with a clean fork.
There are a few telltale signs to look out for when you're trying to determine if your lacto-fermented vegetables are ready: Smell: Fermentation often produces distinct, sometimes tangy or sour smells. If the fermenting food has a pleasant, slightly tangy aroma, it's likely ready.
Do you refrigerate lacto fermented pickles? ›
Fermented vegetables, like these fermented pickles, can last six months or more in the refrigerator, IF you can go that long without eating them all up.
Are Claussen dill pickles fermented? ›
No. The popular claussen pickles are not fermented, they are pickled. These are two different preservation methods; fermenting is pickling, but pickling is not fermenting.
What are the healthiest pickles to eat? ›
“The pickles that are beneficial for your gut health are the fermented ones, made by brining them in salt rather than vinegar,” says Dr. Oppezzo. “While vinegar pickling is a common method, true fermentation in brine enriches them with beneficial probiotics for your gut.
Are MT olive kosher dill pickles fermented? ›
Our dill pickles are crafted from a time honored recipe and a fermentation process that makes sure you get that genuine dill flavor. We never rush the fermentation process, we let our pickling cucumbers bathe as long as they need to in our delicious salt brine until they are perfectly fermented.
What is the ratio of vinegar to water to salt for pickles? ›
The classic ratio is super easy to remember and is easily scale-able depending on how many pickles you're making. It's 100% vinegar, 50% water, 25% sugar and 12.5% kosher salt by weight.
What concentration of brine for lacto fermentation? ›
A 2% saltwater brine is typical for fermenting harder vegetables, such as cauliflower, radishes, carrots, beets, onions, and garlic. For softer vegetables (higher water content), such as cucumbers, bell peppers, and zucchini, a 5% saltwater brine is recommended.
Can you put too much salt in brine for fermentation? ›
Proper salting is critical for successful fermentation. Too little salt is not enough to kill unwanted bacteria while too much salt can stop fermentation so don't be tempted to adjust the salt in recipes. The best salts to use are pickling salt, canning salt or coarse salt.
What is the ratio for pickled water? ›
The basic ratio for quick pickles is 1:1 vinegar to water, and includes some combination of salt and sugar. Another ratio that is commonly followed is the 3:2:1 method, using three parts vinegar, two parts water, and 1 part sugar.
