How To Make Pickles
I am always amazed at the power a good pickle has. How many times have I sat down to a pastrami on rye thinking that the sandwich will be the main player when, after a bite of the pickle that comes with the sandwich, I come to a full stop recognising that a real fermented sour pickle is a thing of true deliciousness? The same goes for a half-sour if that is what happens to be adorning the plate. (Off the record, the sandwich and pickle shine and you realise how bad the bagged potato chips can be in this scenario!) And I don’t mean the jarred pickles at the store. I mean the the pickles that are fermented and served unpasteurised from the brine. Fermentation (you know, the same thing that makes yogurt) is all the rage and the beauty of it is that making your own pickles is easy! It is good to know how to make pickles so let’s get pickling!
How To Make Pickles – The Equipment
The cucumbers and brine are important, but the thing that makes making your own pickles as easy as ever is the advent of fermenting lids. It used to be that you had to watch the jars because gases would build up in them and those gases would have to be released. Now you can get lids with little release valves in them that take care of this while you go about your other business. These lids are relatively cheap and can be purchased on the internet. The jars are standard pickling jars that fit the lids. Typically 1 quart jars.
How To Make Pickles – The Cucumbers and Brine
Once you have the lids, it is a matter of filling the clean jars with cucumbers and brine. The cucumbers to use are the small kirby cucumbers. These are good at holding their crunch and have good flavor. They can be cut in any pickle shape you want or even left whole. The only thing to keep in mind is that when trimming the cucumbers, make sure they are of a length to maintain a head space in the jar and still be fully submerged. Be prepared to pack the pickles tight so they don’t float on you! The brine is is simple – 5 tbsp kosher or sea salt dissolved in 2 quarts of filtered water. I use water that has been charcoal filtered. If your fridge has a filtered water system, perfect. You can also purchase filtered water at the store. Don’t confuse filtered water for de-ionized water. That is something different and it is not what you want.
How To Make Pickles – Everything Else
Cucumbers fermented in the brine above will turn into fine pickles after 3-7 days of fermentation. But leaving them plain feels like an opportunity lost. Add a few cloves of garlic, whole black peppercorns and fresh dill to the mix and you will have a nicer pickle with lots of good flavor. To add more goodness to my pickles, I like to add a chili pepper. Cutting the top off of the chili is enough to get a just a hint of heat into the mix without it getting overly spicy.
How To Make Pickles – The Fermenting
With the extra flavor ingredients in the jars packed tightly with the cucumbers and everything submerged in brine (make sure there is 1.5-2 inches of headspace) the jars can be sealed with the fermenting lids. The pickles can ferment on the counter for 3-7 days, depending on how sour you want them. The ideal temperature for fermenting the pickles is between 70 and 80F. After they are done, the lids can be changed to regular canning lids and the pickles stored in the refrigerator for use as needed!
The ‘How To Make Pickles’ Video is below. The full recipe follows.
- 5 tbsp of sea or kosher salt
- 2 quarts the filtered water
- 2 lbs of pickling cucumbers
- 10 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tsp of black peppecorns, divided
- 1 oz of fresh dill
- 2 red chili peppers (optional)
- Fully dissolve the salt in the water. The water can be heated if necessary. Make sure to cool to room temperature before using.
- Wash the pickles and trim the ends. Cut the pickles into the desired shapes - halves, quarters, chips, etc. For long pickles, make sure they are trimmed to leave room for head space.
- In two 1 quart canning jars, place 1/4 of a tsp of black pepper corns, five clothes of garlic, and half the fresh dill.
- Tightly pack half of the pickles and 1 chili pepper into each of the canning jars making sure to leave at least one and a half inches of headspace. If needed, use fermenting weights if the pickles float.
- Ladle the brine over the contents of the jars making sure all the pickles are submerged and at least 1.5 inches if headspace is left.
- Seal the jars with fermenting lids. Allow the pickles to ferment for 3 to 7 days depending on taste - the longer they ferment the more sour they will be. The pickles should ferment at a temperature between 70 and 80°F.
- After the pickles have fermented to taste, replace the fermenting lids with regular lids in store in the refrigerator.
- Serve as needed. Keep refrigerated. The pickles will stay good in the refrigerator for at least a week.
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