Naturally Fermented Pickles [The Complete Guide]

Pickles? Fermented Pickles? Dill Pickles? Sour Pickles?

Call them what you want, but that big, sour, juicy dill pickle sitting alongside your hamburger was introduced to America during the late 1800s and early 1900s with the arrival of a heavy influx of eastern European Jews in New York City.

These immigrants brought with them traditions from the old country. Dill pickles were one.

They took fresh cucumbers and piled them in large wooden barrels along with dill, garlic, spices, kosher salt and clean water and left them to ferment for a few weeks to several months. These naturally fermented pickles were then sold on pushcarts in the immigrant tenement district of New York City. Over time, Jewish-owned shops started selling pickles straight out of the barrel as what we know today as the pickle.

Kosher Dill Pickles. Half-Sours. Full-Sours. Cornichons. Polish Pickles.

Fermented pickles are not limited to cucumbers but can be made with cauliflower, radishes, onions, green beans, asparagus and a seemingly endless variety of other fruits and vegetables. That’s for another day.

Today is for cucumber pickles.

I have successfully fermented a few jars of cucumber pickles, but since no one in the house ate them, I stopped making them. But now, I make a few batches each July when pickling cucumbers arrive at my farmer’s market. I’ve scoured the internet and have read deep into my trusty books and put together this blog post to address a common request from my readers:

“Do you have a recipe for pickles?”

This post will include just that along with techniques and tips all in one place for you to successfully ferment cucumber pickles. Plus, the recipe I developed passed my pickle-eating friend’s taste test.

She said they tasted unbelievably good.
Surprised. Astonished.
So scrumptious.
No vinegar?
And, they were ready in just 3 days?
I was even pleasantly surprised at the taste. I might grow to like them.

So, when you first see cucumbers in the store or at your local farmer’s market you will know it is time to ferment pickles and you will have the resources to do so.

But first…

Cucumber Pickle Fermenter Beware!

The easiest style of fermenting is pickles or “brine pickling.” Cucumber pickles fall into this category, but so do pickled beets, pickled asparagus, pickled carrots or pickled beans or any vegetable still whole or cut into larger pieces floating in salty brine.

These vegetables do not produce their own brine, so you mix salt with water to make a brine which is then poured over the vegetables. And, as with sauerkraut, fermenting pickles is an anaerobic – without air – process. The vegetables need to be kept submerged in the brine.

These various vegetable pickles are easier to make than sauerkraut. The difference between brine pickling and sauerkraut (dry salting)?

Brine pickling is done by pouring a salty brine or whole or roughly chopped vegetables.

Sauerkraut is made with thinly sliced cabbage that is directly salted to produce its own brine. This salty, briny mixture is then packed into a jar, submerged and left to ferment as detailed here:

How to Make Sauerkraut in a Jar in 7 Simple Steps

Most pickles are easier to make than sauerkraut however, pickles made from cucumbers can be finicky. They do not always turn our crisp and sour and you won’t always know why.

Here’s what Amanda Feifer, author of Ferment Your Vegetables (one of my three favorite fermentation books) has to say about fermenting pickles in her post We can Phickle That – Tricky Pickle Edition:

“But I want you to approach cuke pickles with a tad more caution and not feel crappy if they don’t turn out perfectly the first time.  And a personal por favor: don’t start fermenting with cucumbers. They are not always an easy win and if you start with them as opposed to SO many other fantastic veggies, you may get it in your subconscious that fermenting vegetables is hard or complicated or finicky. It isn’t, I promise.”

“My advice: Start with beets or radishes or turnips or cabbage and be amazed at the simplicity of the process. THEN, move on to cucumbers, where you might need to play around to find your perfect amount of salt between needing a big rinse and being stuck with mushy pickles.”

All About Pickles

In this section, you learn about the difference between canned pickles and fermented pickles, styles of pickles and the health benefits of naturally fermented pickles.

Canned Pickles vs. Fermented Pickles

There is a world of difference between cucumbers that you’ve added hot vinegar to and boiled in a hot water bath – or grabbed off the grocery store shelf – and the kinds of pickles I’m about to teach you how to make.

Foods that are pickled – canned – have been preserved in an acidic medium, most often vinegar. The vinegar guarantees a sour flavor and acts as a preservative. Using vinegar prevents natural fermentation from occurring and results in foods that offer no probiotic benefits. During the canning process, you thoroughly sterilize everything effectively killing dangerous bacteria – C. botulinum – but also friendly lactic-acid bacteria, and other helpful microbes.

Foods that you ferment in your own kitchen using just salt and water create their own preservative – lactic-acid – as a by-product of the fermentation process. During fermentation, the starches and sugars in the food are converted into lactic acid by the bacteria lactobacilli. The lactic acid production is what gives fermented foods their unique sour smell and flavor along with making them super nutritious and incredibly beneficial for digestion.

And here’s a quick look at 2 pickle jar labels: commercially processed pickles and naturally fermented pickles.

So don’t be fooled by the unhealthy versions of pickles, both home canned and store bought. Unlike the pickles introduced to America in the late 1800s by Jewish immigrants, these modern foods have been processed by high heat and pressure destroying all nutrients and any health benefits.

For more on canned vs. fermented, here’s this article from Amanda at Phickle:

What’s the Difference Between Canned Pickles and Fermented Pickles?

Styles of Pickles

The type of pickles you make is determined by the amount of salt you prepare your brine with, the spices added and how long they are fermented.

Standard Sour Pickles (Full-Sours, Kosher Dill)

A Full-Sour Pickle is one that has fully fermented and has lost its crispness and bright green color.

Half-Sour Pickles

A Half-Sour Pickle ferments in brine for a shorter time period and is still crisp and bright green.

French-Style Cornichons

Cornichons are about the size of your pinky finger, about an inch and half in length and less than a quarter inch in diameter. The French call them cornichons and they are sold under the same name in the US, but the English call them gherkins. Tarragon is a key ingredient in Cornichon pickles.

Polish Pickles

A Polish Pickle contains more spices and garlic than a traditional dill pickle. A Polish Pickle tends to be peppery and is often flavored with mustard seeds.

I just came across this post on Polish Pickles from Stone Creek Trading (the company that imports the Polish Boleslawiec crock I recommend) sharing a recent visit to Poland:

Polish market stands overflowing with a wide variety of pickling cucumbers. A Polish pickle fermenting vessel. Pickles available right out of the “barrel” at the local supermarket.

Bread and Butter Pickles

A Bread and Butter Pickle is made with sliced cucumbers, spices and also sugar to give them a bit of sweetness.

Pickle Relish

Pickle Relish is made from finely chopped pickled cucumbers and is a good way to salvage a batch of pickles that turned out too soft. Pickle Relish is typically eaten with hot dogs or hamburgers.

Health Benefits of Fermented Pickles

Naturally fermented pickles are packed with the same goodness as sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables. Pickles:

A perfect reason for making lacto-fermented pickles! For Healthier Skin, Check Your Gut, Not Your Bathroom Cabinet http://t.co/ZPqS5K3oqo

— 61st Street Market (@61market) 16 September 2015

All You Need to Know to Make Your Own Naturally Fermented Pickles

The Ideal Cucumber Varieties for Pickling

Harmonie. Kirby. McPick. Alibi. Parisienne Cornichon de Bourbonne.

Though you can pickle any cucumber, pickling cucumbers are the best. If you use slicing cucumbers, you might end up with flat, squishy and limp pickles. How to know if what you are buying is a pickling cucumber or a slicing cucumber.

Your best bet is to visit your local farmer’s market and talk to the growers or if you’re growing your own. They’ll know the variety of cucumber they grew and what it is suited for. Don’t get fooled by the size. A small, immature slicing cucumber may be tempting, but if it is not a pickling cucumber, you most likely won’t be happy with the results.

Here’s what Johnny’s Selected Seeds has to say in their catalog about pickling cucumbers:

“While most pickling cucumbers can also be eaten fresh, varieties with this designation are selected with several criteria in mind. The plants should be high yielding, and the fruits must have great flavor, remain crisp when pickled, and be just the right size to fit the pickling jar. Throw in a good disease resistance package, an unusual color or shape, and Johnny’s has the right choice for you.”

Planting your own cucumbers? The following article from A Gardener’s Table might be of help.

Cucumbers for Pickling: They’re Not All Alike

DIY Pickling Spice Recipe

And another recipe from the HGTV Gardens blog:

Make Your Own Pickling Spice

Tips to Successfully Ferment Pickles

Though making cucumber pickles can be a bit tricky, here are some tips to get you fermenting pickles that make you salivate for more.

Brine Chart for Pickles

Salt is the workhorse in your pickle jar. The right amount of salt is critical for creating the environment for mighty-microbes to ferment those sweet cucumbers into sour pickles.

What is the right amount of salt?

To make cucumber pickles, a ratio of salt to water is used. For cucumber pickles, the recommended brine ratio is in the range of 3.5% to 5.0%. This is different than the 2% ratio typically used to pickle other vegetables.

This is due to the fact that there are enzymes in cucumbers that break down and soften the cucumber. To counteract this, more salt is used and cucumbers are fermented for short periods of time.

Most recipes do these calculations for you. Use the chart below to mix up a specific quantity of brine or to do your own calculations.

Also, if you’re wanting to achieve a certain style of pickle or are fermenting in hot weather – who isn’t – you can use the chart to make adjustments.

For Half-Sour Pickles – eaten when they are still somewhat bright – a 3.5% brine is recommended.

To ferment Full Sour Pickles, use a 5% brine.

French-Style Cornichons Pickles use a 5% brine and are typically spiced with tarragon, garli, and peppercorns.

“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. “ – Sandor Katz, The Art of Fermentation

And for a discussion on measuring salt with vs. weighing salt, see my blog article:

Salt by Weight for Delicious Sauerkraut… Batch after Batch

Pickle Troubleshooting Tips

Here’s what happened or what to do if you end up with:

How to Rescue a Bad Batch of Pickles

Did life hand you mushy or flat tasting pickles?

Then, make Pickle Relish!

Roughly chop pickles – adding any seasoning appropriate from the pickle jar – in your food processor.

For a bit more flavor, feel free to add a bit of ground turmeric, ground ginger and celery seed. A tablespoon or so of sugar can be used to make a sweeter relish and some apple cider vinegar will add tang.

Recipes for Fermented Pickles

There are many variations in pickle recipes. My recipe and the recipes I selected:

Be sure to check out the cucumber relish recipe at the end of the list.

My Fermented Pickles in Pictures

Purchase Fresh Pickling Cucumbers
It was the middle of July as I headed to my local Farmer's Market hoping to find some cucumbers for this blog post. I scored! Ultra-fresh, blemish-free pickling cucumbers, Corentines. Sweet tasting and just the right size. A one-pound bag fit perfectly into a quart jar.

Gather Supplies & Ingredients
I seasoned this batch with coarsely chopped ginger, garlic from my garden and coriander seeds. A few grape leaves to ensure crispness and salt for the brine.

Slice Off Blossom Ends
Stems are removed and then I sliced off the blossom ends. They contain an enzyme that softens pickles.

Pack Jar
I placed a grape leaf at the bottom of the jar, packed half the jar with whole cucumbers - quartered lengthwise would also work nice - added my seasonings and then packed in the last of the cucumbers. I didn't peel the garlic cloves, but just smashed them to release the flavors.

Prepare Brine
I mixed up a 5% brine: 1 quart (liter) of chlorine-free water with 3 tablespoons of additive-free salt. I used a fine grain salt that dissolved easily. If using a large-grain pickling salt, you might have to heat the water to dissolve the salt. Cool before use.

Cover Cucumbers in Brine
I then poured my well-mixed brine into my jar of cucumbers until submerged and left 1 inch of head space for expansion and as a place for fermentation gases to go.

Add Another Grape Leaf
I added a second grape leaf for the tannin and to function as a floaties trap. The edges were tucked down into the jar so they would stay well below the brine.

Submerge & Lightly Screw Lid On
I then used the Pickle-Pushing No-Float Jar-Packer (see my review post on the blog) to hold everything below the brine.

Ready to Ferment!
Airlock in place and ready to ferment. My few minutes of work is done. Time for the Mighty Microbes to do their work. Three days to wait before sinking my teeth into the tangy crunch.

My Fermented Pickles Recipe

My Recipe: Naturally Fermented Pickles

Print

Course Fermented

Prep Time 20 minutes

Author Holly Howe

You Will Need

• 1 pound pickling cucumbers
• 1 quart (liter) chlorine-free water
• 3 tablespoons iodine-free salt for Full-Sours, 2 tablespoons for Half-Sours
• 2-3 bay, grape, oak or horseradish leaves OR a big pinch of black tea
• 1 tablespoon pickling spices

Instructions

1. Trim blossom end of cucumbers by 1/8 inch.
2. Place grape leaves - saving one for the top - and spices in the bottom of a wide-mouth quart-sized canning jar.
3. Quarter cucumbers lengthwise - or leave whole - and pack into jar trying to get as tight a fit as possible.
4. Dissolve the salt in a quart of water and pour it over the cucumbers to cover them.
5. Place saved grape leaf on top of the packed cucumbers, tucking excess down into the jar.
6. Loosely screw on lid or use an airlock system.
7. Set in a shallow dish - to catch any brine overflow - and leave to ferment for just 3-6 days.
8. Ideal fermentation temperature is 68-72° F (20–22° C). Home too warm? 11 Cool Fermentation Tips for Hot Weather
9. When pickled to your liking, refrigerate and enjoy the tangy crunch!

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Here are two how-to videos for making pickles. The first, a small batch of pickles fermented in a jar and the second, fermenting pickles in a crock.

After the videos are seven lacto-fermented pickle recipes. The amount of salt used in these recipes vary. Either follow the numbers given in the recipe or use the Brine Chart for Pickles to mix up a batch of brine to the strength desired for the type of pickle you want.

And a video from FoodWishes on fermenting pickles in a crock.

1. Fermented Cucumber Pickles from Grow Forage Cook Ferment

“Pickling cucumbers work best in this recipe, as they are less seedy and watery than regular slicing cucumbers.  I’ve also used the small Persian cukes (they usually have them at Trader Joe’s) with success.” – Colleen, Grow Forage Cook Ferment

2. Three Secrets to Crispy Pickles, and a ‘Lost Recipe’ Found

As part of NPR’s All Things Considered’s Lost Recipes series, host Melissa Block talks with listener Joanie Vick, of Nashua, N.H. Vick wants to re-create her Grandma Minnie’s secret family recipe for Original New York Full Sour Pickles.

Note: One of her tips is to use alum to encourage nice texture. Alum is potassium double sulfate of aluminum, not something that sounds healthy to me. I have not seen it used for natural fermentation and would recommend against using it.

3. Three Lacto-Fermented Pickle Recipes from Homestead Honey

“Thanks to an abundance of rain, my pickling cucumbers are growing and producing like crazy, providing us with bowls of cucumbers each day.  Thankfully, I LOVE making lacto-fermented pickles, creating new recipes with each batch. This type of pickle is enjoyed fresh – no canning required – so the process is incredibly quick and easy, and the end result is crisp, delicious, and good for you!” – Teri, Homestead Honey

Three flavors to choose from. Garlic Ginger, Spicy or Classic Dill.

4. Probiotic Pickles: A Fermented Year-Round Recipe from Creative Simple Life

“There’s nothing quite like a lacto-fermented half sour pickle! They are crisp, crunchy, and refreshing with just the right amount of tang! Plus they pack a hefty probiotic punch! It’s a win-win.” – Alexandra, Creative Simple Life

I noticed in the comments section of this recipe that one reader who had no access to grape leaves was able to find some quickly after posting on her Facebook status.

5. Homemade Fermented Pickles and Hot Peppers from The Healthy Foodie

“The juice of lacto-fermented pickles. I know that makes most people squirm, but a salty swig of pickle juice quenches my thirst on a hot day more than water. Not only will that salty brine replace salt that is lost through sweating but lacto-fermented pickle juice is also a good source of electrolytes. I’d take it any day over those nasty chemical-filled sports drinks (yeah I’m talking about you, Gatorade).” – Sonia, The Healthy Foodie

Sonia talks about fermenting in both mason jars and the Fido-style hinged-lid jars.

6. How to Make Your Own Fermented Pickles from Homestead Wishing

“A little note about store-bought pickles… Store-bought pickles, contain, yellow #5! That is on my BIG no no list! I had no idea that store-bought pickles had that in them. I just thought pickles are pickles right? I should have known better.” – Kristi, Homestead Wishing

7. Lacto-fermented Cucumber Relish from AIP Living

“It is very simple to make, and contains lots of gut-friendly probiotics.  It has a pleasant tangy, slightly sour flavour rather than the sharp vinegar flavour that a lot of conventional, vinegar containing relishes have.” – Salixisme, AIP Living

Recipes Using Dill Pickles

Zupa Ogórkowa – Dill Pickle Soup from Fermented Food Freak

“All the Eastern Europe and other parts of the word have been CONTINUOUSLY  and extensively using lacto-fermentation for preserving vegetables for all this time when the Western countries treated it with the deep contempt.

Therefore, the Eastern European cuisine comprises loads of traditional recipes that use “lacto-pickles”. We have to somehow eat all those barrels of sauerkraut and cucumbers over the long continental winter, don’t we? Most of those recipes are for cooked dishes, so they are not really in line with the current trend for implementing living bacteria into your guts.

But they are heavenly delicious and serve as the definite comfort food as well as a fabulous hangover remedy. Not being as healthy as raw ferments, they are still far from the definition of junk food.” – Anna, Fermented Food Freak

Dill Pickle Dip from Wonky Wonderful

“You NEED to try this Dill Pickle Dip recipe! Forget about french onion dip. This dip appetizer will be a new crowd favorite! This cold creamy dip is full of fresh dill and tangy pickles. Look Out! You may eat the entire bowlful!” – Nicole Harris, Wonky Wonderful

Conclusion

There you have it. Everything you need to know to successfully ferment pickles that make your eyes widen in surprise and your tongue tingle with pleasure. It’s as simple as:

Resources

The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz
Ferment Your Vegetables by Amanda Feifer
Fermented Vegetables by Kirsten Shockey & Christopher Shockey
We can Phickle That – Tricky Pickle Edition by The Phickle