I need you to put your Laura Ingalls bonnet on now because you're going to learn how to make old fashioned fermented dill pickles in a crock.
Only a person of very suspicious character would want to eat just one pickle. The same kind of person who only eats one cookie. Or one potato chip. Or who walks around their house laughing diabolically for no reason while wearing kittens as slippers. And if those pickles are fermented pickles? Well then that person is just plain demented.
Kosher dills. Sighhhhhhh.
Regular dill pickles are O.K., but I was raised on Kosher dills and to me that's what a dill pickle should taste like.
Table of Contents
What's a Kosher Dill?
- Kosher dills are fermented pickles that are made sour or half-sour naturally. They aren't necessarily kosher in the Jewish dietary sense. They're named Kosher Dills because they're the style of pickle that you would get at a good Jewish deli.
- Vinegar is what's normally used to get the sour flavour in regular dill pickles, but kosher pickles are fermented in just water with some seasonings. You combine salt, dill, water and pickling cucumbers in a crock and let them sit at room temperature for a few weeks. Some people add garlic.
- Homemade kosher dills that haven't been processed are FULL of probiotics. Once you process them though, you lose those probiotics so consider that when you're deciding whether to process them or not.
I tried fermenting pickles when I first moved into my house about 15 years ago and I can tell you I have never been so excited to rot something. O.K., fermenting isn't really rotting something, but it sounds more fun. More daring. Less hippie, more badass.
I have no idea where I got my original fermenting pickles recipe but I'm pretty sure it must have been off of a salt box, because after waiting patiently for 5 weeks for my pickles to ferment, what I ended up with were soft squishes of pickle made up of 1% cucumber and 99% salt. They were the dead sea pickles.
I now know how to fix pickles that are too salty (you can read about how to do that here) but at the time all I could do was throw the salty mushballs out.
I now make my pickles according to the directions from Sandor Katz in his book called Wild Fermentation: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Cultural Manipulation (DIY)
And I was right. These are GREAT pickles.
If you don't grow your own pickling cucumbers make sure the cucumbers you're buying from the market or grocery store are specifically "pickling cucumbers".
What the hell is a pickling cucumber?
Pickling cucumbers are shorter and fatter than regular cucumbers. Plus they're bred to be more firm which helps give a nice crunch to your pickles.
THE DILL
For your dill flavour in these pickles you can use any type of dill you can get your hands on. Fresh dill, dill seeds, dill heads, dried dill (as a last resort). But chances are if you can get your hands on pickling cucumbers, you can also get your hands on fresh dill or dried dill seeds.
The book. If you're gonna buy a book about making kosher dills, you wanna go with someone with a last name like Katz. Or Steinberg. Or Greenbaum. Or anything that sounds like they'd have a good grasp on challah, latkes or brisket. Jews make the best pickles. It's not cultural stereotyping if it's the truth and something to be jealous of.
But mushy, ucky, icky! Homemade pickles are always soft and gross.
Yeah. Sometimes. But there are some workarounds that'll help keep your pickles crisp.
How to get crunchy pickles
- Soak them in ice cold water for a few of hours before processing them.
- Add a handful of leaves that have tannins to the brine: Grape leaves, Oak leaves or horseradish leaves are all good choices and high in tannins.*
- Cut the *blossom* end off of the pickle. The blossom end (it will be the more narrow end) contains an enzyme that causes pickles to soften when they ferment.
- Add calcium chloride to your brine. Ball's Pickle Crisp and Mrs. Wages are commercial calcium chloride product made for pickles.
- Low temperature pasteurization (video below) is a processing method that uses low temperatures for a longer period. This method helps keep your pickles as crunchy as possible.
*If you cut the blossom end off of your pickles there's no need to add tannins to the brine.
There are a lot of really beautiful, contemporary crocks for sale right now with the popularity of fermentation, but I like the classic, old fashioned looking crock for doing pickles.
This is all there is in terms of seasoning. Salt and dill. Optional things to add are peppercorns and garlic.
Layer everything in your crock.
That's a horseradish leaf on top. Cover the pickles with water that has the salt dissolved in it.
Admire the beauty that is the fledgling kosher dill.
Make sure all of the cucumbers are beneath the surface of the brine by weighing them down with something. I just used a few sandwich plates stacked on top of each other but you can buy pickle weights for crocks on Amazon.
Then you wait. After just one day my pickles were starting to ferment. You can see the bubbles.
After 3-4 weeks (depending on the temperature in your house) your pickles will be fully fermented. To test them pick 1 pickle and cut a slice off of it every few days to taste, starting after a couple of weeks.
The pickles are ready when they taste good and are translucent throughout.
You can see how clear the fully fermented pickle on the left is compared to a fresh cucumber on the right.
After reading Wild Fermentation I've figured out that what I made years ago must have been "full sour" pickles. That means they have a lot more salt in the recipe which makes them last longer. This type of recipe would have been popular back in the olden days when refrigerators weren't around to keep pickles from going bad. So they used salt to preserve them.
Speaking of preserving them, fermented pickles will last for months and months in the fridge. If I'm being honest I don't even refrigerate them but I don't recommend you do that because I don't want you to get sick and die. And then sue me.
One way to be 100% sure about your fermented dills lasting a long time on the shelf is to process them, but processing pickles involves boiling them in a water bath for 10 - 15 minutes (depending on the size of the jar) which will reduce them to mush no matter how many blossom ends you cut off or leaves you added.
You have another option though. It's that low temperature pasteurization I mentioned earlier.
Low Temperature Pasteurization
This will help your pickles stay crispy even after processing. Because you're processing for a longer time at a lower temperature they better retain their crunch.
You simply add ¼ cup of vinegar to every 8 cups of water for your original brine mixture then follow these instructions.
- Fill a canning pot with water and heat it to between 180 F and 185 F.*
- Bring the pickle brine to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes.
- Pour brine into hot jars to within ½" from the top of the jar.
- Wipe the top of the jar so it's dry and clean.
- Add a sealer and ring to the jar.
- Process the pickles for 30 minutes in the low temperature water bath.
*the temperature MUST remain within this range. I find using a a Sous Vide stick is the easiest way to accomplish this without any stress.
The recipe I used from Wild Fermentation is for a a Half-Sour which calls for a brine that is around 5% salt, as opposed to the full sour which would call for around 10% salt or even more.
Mazel Tov!
Kosher Dill Pickles
Ingredients
- 8 pounds cucumbers small to medium size
- 9 tablespoons sea salt* More if canning
- 9 dill heads fresh
- 1 handful fresh grape cherry, oak, and/or
- horseradish leaves if available
- 1 pinch black peppercorns
- 16 cups water
- 1 head garlic cloves skinned and separated
If you want to process/can add these ingredients to the brine:
- 1 cup pickling salt This will replace the 9 Tbsps.
- ½ cup vinegar
Instructions
- Bring salt and water to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt. Let cool.
- Wash your cucumbers and cut off the "blossom" end. You just need to remove the blossom part.*
- Layer your cucumbers, dill and horseradish (or grape leaves) in the crock and cover with cooled salt water.
- Place a plate with a rock (or something else heavy) on top of the pickles to make sure they're completely submerged.
- Test pickles after a couple of weeks.
- Cucumbers will be translucent throughout when they're done.
- Place pickles in hot pint jars with enough brine to cover them and store in the fridge for several months.
Low Heat Processing
- Fill a canning pot with water and warm it to between 180 F - 185 F.
- Remove pickles from the brine and stuff them tightly into pint jars.
- Pour brine into a pot and heat until it comes to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
- Pour hot brine into the jars of pickles to ½" from the rim.
- Wipe the rim of the jars to make sure they're perfectly clean and put on a sealer and rim. Finger tighten only.
- Place your jars of pickles into the warm water bath and process for 30 minutes making sure the water doesn't fall below 180 F or go above 185 F.
Notes
- You must add more salt (than the original recipe) and vinegar to aid in the preservation process.
- Pickles get softer over time so for maximum crunch eat them within 6 months.
- The blossom end portion of the cucumber is said to make the pickles soft, so get rid of it. I've done my own experiments with this and it seems to be true.
Nutrition
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We make pickles this way too. You should try kimchi....but only if you like spicy hot stuff! So good!
Hi Karen...I enjoyed this post and may try this method next year. My husband has an old family recipe for making something similar. Stuff washed pickles into a jar with a couple cloves of garlic & sprigs of dill making sure they are quite tight at the top and won't pop up through your brine. Pour over them the brining fluid (1/4 cup pickling salt/kosher salt to 4 quarts water mixed til salt dissolved). We then put them in a cool room for up to a week with no lids. Everyday, we skim the tops making sure to remove any pickles that "pop" above the brine and we add more brine to cover as needed. When they stop working, they're ready to be capped and these store in the fridge for up to a year. They are crunchy and delicious! I like the idea of yours being less salt and it being sea salt is nice. Thanks for sharing! wendy
Hi Wendy! Your recipe is probably basically the same only instead of doing it in one big crock you're doing them individually. I'm sure they're great! ~ karen
Hubby and I have a mixed marriage. I like half sours and he likes full sours. Thankfully, the kids take after me. L'Chaim!
Thank you Amber for saying what I was thinking. You can say it, but a guy who lives less than a block away from Karen, might get slapped. :D - rbs
I have never been able to eat pickles or cukes cause of heart burn but I found these little cukes at Costco that are so good and do not for some strange reason cause me stomach upset but and finally....the reason I mention them is they rot in the bag in the fridge like instantaneously -any input as to why? I would love to keep buying them for salads but I only get about 2 salads and the rest have to go in the trash. great post and you look marrrrrrrrvelous Darling! Who said that? Can't remember.............
Billy Crystal. The little cucumbers you're talking about are probably Kirbys, or some sort of pickling cucumber. Instead of keeping them in the bag they came in try keeping them in a ziplock produce bag. They're bags made especially for produce. They're covered in tiny little holes to allow ventilation. I find they're really good for keeping produce fresh. ~ karen!
Beautiful photography, Karen. You look so cute, and more importantly, so healthy in that "back" photo. Good summer?
Karen, Janet here with the Whitestrips...the photos are amazing. Loved the post, want to grow cukes in my earth boxes but in Florida ugly worms like them better, but the photos made me want everything. From the pickles, crock and beautifully weathered pier-like board beneath. No, I am not comment number one, but you are wearing us out with the webinar. Plus I do want the gold fork with brown cake on black plate....it's a whole gorgeous masculine room in the making. It's amazing where interior design ideas can come from...pickles!
LOL. Such a good student. ~ karen!
so, does it _have_ to be a crock? bucket? pail? enamel pot? hollowed out pumpkin? :)
I am a pickle fancier but I am confused...you say you don't put garlic in your kosher pickles but whenever I have bought kosher pickles (or Jewish pickles as my husband from Philly calls them) I thought they were garlicky--is that just the spices???
thanks for the link to the government recipe--I may just try some of this over the winter.
What is the difference between a pickling cuke and a regular ol' cuke?
Hi Chrissy! A pickling cucumber (like the Kirby) is smaller, stays crisper and has smaller, less dense seeds. :) ~ karen!
The pickles you have on today will have to wait till next year. However you inspired me with the bread and butter pickles. I somehow totally forgot about these. My Mom made them in the 60's and I loved them. So, with your recipe 48 pints were born. Thank you for bringing that great memory back to the present.
They are the prettiest pickles I have ever seen..and the whole process seems so easy..If I can afford a big crock sometime I am trying the kosher pickles..all I have ever done is refrigerator pickles which were very good too..I had a friend (passed away) who I helped make sauerkraut ever year..It was so good right out of the crock..we would take jars to friends and family every year to use in their New Years meal..I not going to tell you how cute your butt is..you already know that ;-)
Question: what if you don't have a crock, what can I use?
BTW...you do look great! You are camera ready.
Did you know to get rid of fruit flies all you have to do is to put about a 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar in a container with a drop or two of dishwashing liquid. Swish the mixture together and stand back and count the victims! I usually set out a fresh bowl every couple day until the little devils are gone.
You can use a large wide mouth mason jar. However, I discovered that the Ace Hardware website sells nice plain crocks in several sizes and the prices are quite reasonable. If you have an Ace near you, they will ship the crock to your store for you to pick up and you will not have to pay any shipping.
And to anyone who has a lovely old crock they'd like to use: be extra EXTRA sure that it is food safe. Even if your granny used it way back when, it was more common than not for the glazes to have lead or other heavy metals added and so it isn't safe. Just think how much contaminant would leach into a food that's been soaking in an acidic bath for weeks.
Thank you, Amy Faith for the info!
Your comment about Ace Hardware prompted me to check the Home Hardware site here in Canada and they sell the crocks, too. Thanks for the tip, amyfaith.
Oddly, I just found this remedy today on the internet. I have the container sitting there with vinegar and soap, but NOT ONE fruit fly. If it's possible to botch the recipe, I must have. And dang-- I HATE fruit flies!
Pam'a did you use apple cider vinegar? Add one or two drops of dish soap and swish around to mix. That is it, I know it works. Good luck.
Pickling isn't my thing, but I noticed that I have the same set round metal scoops that you have salt in. I bought mine in Pensacola, Florida and use them to scoop dirt when I pot plants.
Oh that's funny! Those are actually measuring cups. Came in a set of 3. 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/4 cup. :) ~ karen!
I've never made fermented dills although they are a family favourite. My mom's vinegar recipe produces a pretty good pickle. However a few months back my son decided he wanted to make pickled eggs. I was skeptical 'cos it conjured up images of those rubbery sad looking things floating in the jars in the bars of my ill-spent youth. Not sure anybody actually ate those things - I thought maybe they were for decoration like those jars of vegetables you see in tacky Italian restaurants. Anyway, after trying a recipe we found online and being disappointed, he brought home some pickle juice from the sub/pizza place he where he works (Strubb's we think) and stuffed eggs in that. Surprisingly good! They work in sandwiches, egg salad - even deviled eggs. So Karen, maybe you could stick some if the girls' produce in your brine when you're done:)
I dislike pickles... really. I can handle a slight 'tang' but anything that goes off into the sour realm, and is intended to be enjoyed without a mask of sweetness (a la lemon or key lime pie).... Nope. Not gonna do it.
That, however, does nothing to quell my fascination with your 'Laura Ingalls-ness.' You go, Laura... I mean, Karen. :D
These pictures are especially gorgeous! :)
Sandor Katz is my hero.
I'm halfway through reading his latest book - The Art of Fermentation. Fascinating!
Thanks to Sandor, I've made (just since July of this year):
3 batches of sauerkraut
2 batches of mixed vegetable ferment (radishes, turnips, carrots, herbs)
fermented garlic
kefir using grains I purchased from Fusion Teas
heirloom Bulgarian yogurt (using starter purchased from Cultures for Health)
This is not to mention the hundreds of loaves of sourdough bread I've made since I began sourdough one year ago.
Fermentation is a fascinating topic. Did you know that kefir that you purchase in the store is not really true kefir? And that heirloom yogurt cultures can produce lovely thick yogurt indefinitely where using a bit of yogurt from the store will not (you would have to continue to use newly purchased yogurt as a starter or it will become thinner and thinner)?
The next project will be cheese...
I Luv kosher dills, especially Strubbs too! They remind me of the ones my Oma would make . She would eat them sliced in half lengthwise.... and spread with honey- YES!!! I remember looking at her with my mouth hanging open , doubting my beloved Oma's sanity for just a fraction of a second - until i tried it...yummm ;)
sadly i don't have her recipe but glad to have found this one! will give it a try. thx Karen
( and i agree with the others- YOU look GREAT!)
There is a greater than 10% and less than 100% chance I will try this. Question. Do you boil the water and salt prior to pouring? Do you can like you would tomatoes?
Hi Jean. There's no need to can fermented foods. You just need to keep them refrigerated after they're done fermenting. You don't have to boil the water, but I brought mine close to the boil in order to dissolve the salt properly. Then you have to make sure you let the water cool down before you pour it on the cucumbers otherwise you'll cook them. ~ karen!