Fermented Dill Pickles (to can, or not to can, that is the question)
Fermented Dill Pickles
(to can, or not to can, that is the question)
It's time for another cucumber-related food blog entry!
This one is more involved. Well, more involved as far as time, because part of it is a long waiting period. You'll see.
This time we are doing Fermented Dill Pickles, the first fermented item I've included in the blog. Why make fermented foods? They are full of “good bacteria” - all sorts of things that are good for your gut. They help digestion, and fermented foods are great for general, overall health. If your gut is happy, the rest of your body will be happier. Sometimes the gut is even referred to as our “second brain”.
Also, making fermented foods is easy. People have done this for ages as a way to easily, safely, and healthfully preserve foods. It's a really good way to preserve the particular food's nutrients, and the process helps make those more readily available to us. You can ferment practically anything. We are all familiar with a kind of fermented milk – yogurt. And there are other kinds of fermented milk. Both coffee beans and tea leaves have been fermented before we use them.
Remember that if you subject a fermented product to heat, the beneficial microorganisms will be killed, so you will no longer have the benefits. Many people know about making sauerkraut or have heard that it is good for us. It is best for us when it is in its end-of-fermentation phase, full of life, and kept cool. Once you cook or can it, you've lost that. It's still good for you in other ways, but if you want all of the benefits you can get, keep it cool. Sauerkraut that you find in the store has been subjected to heat, unless it's one of the few brands that is kept in a refrigerated case and states on the label that it has live cultures.
The same goes for fermented pickles, of course. You'll see that in this recipe there are two options at the end – to can the pickles (which subjects them to plenty of heat) or to keep them in a cool place, such as a refrigerator, root cellar, or unheated basement or garage (as long as they won't get cold enough to freeze). It depends on how you like them, the kind of space you have, and whether or not you want to retain the full benefits of fermentation.
And now … off to the garden!!!
I've used these garden photos before, with the other cucumber recipes. This first photo shows the cucumber vines in the Grow City Teaching Garden during summer, 2022. We grew Arkansas Littleleaf, which is a good producer and all-purpose cucumber. The leaves are smaller, so the cucumbers are easier to find on the plants. This is a variety that is good for small spaces and containers.
Arkansas Littleleaf cucumbers harvested one summer day, 2022, from Grow City (there is some mint in the basket, also)
And here are some in the harvest basket. For pickling, be sure to use a variety meant for pickling, or all-purpose. Those intended to be just sliced and used fresh (Japanese Suyo would be one example) do not withstand the pickling process well.
Notice that some of the cucumbers are much larger. Some varieties will stay crisp when larger (Poona Keera is an example of an especially large cucumber), but most need to be picked when smaller. If using fresh, the larger ones will have more and larger seeds, and the skin can be tougher. For pickling, the larger cucumbers (except on meant-to-be-large varieties) can get mushy during the process. I decided to experiment and see what would happen with both the large and smaller ones.
I also gathered dill from the Grow City Teaching Garden for this recipe.
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Once again, we are using the USDA canning book.
Here are the recipe and instructions:
You will need to refer, also, to the general canning instructions elsewhere in the book, if you are going to preserve them that way after they are finished fermenting.
Here I have gathered together all of the ingredients:
Cucumbers (about 4 lbs.), dill (I used both fresh and dry heads of dill), garlic (previously grown in the Grow City garden), dry hot pepper (from the home garden), and pickling spices (bought). I have a clean glass gallon jar ready. I will also need canning salt, vinegar, and water.
I have put half of the dill and pickling spices into the jar.
I have washed the cucumbers (remove bad spots) and cut off the blossom end of each one. This helps them absorb the liquid and flavors.
Next, I put all of the prepared cucumbers into the jar, and then I added the rest of the dill and pickling spices.
Here are the next ingredients: water, vinegar, pickling salt. I have measured 8 cups of water into the bowl. The liquid measuring cup has ¼ cup vinegar, and the dry measuring cup has ½ cup canning salt.
I have mixed the water and vinegar together, then dissolved the canning salt in this mixture. Then I poured this into the jar of cucumbers/dill/pickling spices.
Now you need to add a weight to the top to make sure the cucumbers stay submerged during the fermenting process. There are various ways to do this (including the use of specially made fermentation containers). This time, I tried using some discs that a friend gave me (meant for food processing) and I weighted down all of this with a jelly jar of water. Make sure you have done this well enough to keep the cucumbers well submerged so that no ingredients are exposed to the air.
You will need to protect everything from bugs, and light, and such. I put a towel over this that covers everything. It's a little tilted and looks something like Cousin Itt, but it will work!
****
Now we store and wait!
Where to store it? The instructions tell us to “Store where temperature is between 70 and 75 degrees, for about 3 to 4 weeks.” Also, “Temperatures of 55 to 65 degrees are acceptable, but the fermentation will take 5 to 6 weeks." My pantry closet is perfect, and I'm not in a hurry, so any temperature in those ranges will be fine for me. The directions also warn not to store in temperatures above 80 degrees, which will make the pickles too soft.
I started this process back on August 29, 2022, and I noted that on my calendar. You can also label the jar with the date, especially if you are starting different batches of pickles at different times. It's very important to have a record of when you started so that they ferment for the right amount of time (though this is not an exact science).
And it's a good thing this is not an exact science.
During the latter period of fermentation, I got very, very, very busy and did not check up on my pickles after 3 to 6 weeks! How were they going to be? The instructions say to check the jar of pickles several times during the fermentation process and remove any scum or mold you find on the surface. I did check, but mine did not develop scum or mold.
The instructions also warn that “if the pickles become soft, slimy, or develop a disagreeable odor, discard them.” That's such a disappointment after all that work, but it's best to do so.
Let's jump forward to October 24, 2022.
Yes – 8 WEEKS since I started the pickles!!! Would they be any good??
The moment of truth came when I finally removed the jar from the pantry closet, removed the towel, removed the jelly jar weight and the disk, and pulled out a pickle.
It looked good.
I cut one open.
It looked good!
I tasted it.
It was good! And … crisp!!!
My experience with making fermented pickles has too often ended with ones that are not crisp.
But now I've done it!
What happened with the large cucumbers? Well, they were mushy – at least partly. I tossed those into our compost bucket (the compost critters in the pile later will enjoy the pickles as well as the microbes coming with them) and only used the smaller, crisp ones. I filled a couple of quart canning jars with those (I sterilized the jars first, for extra care). I also stuck the dill, red pepper and garlic into those jars – keeping those flavors with it.
And now I have a better idea about the optimum size of Arkansas Littleleaf cucumbers for canning.
Though I thought about it for a while, I decided to not can my pickles. I wanted to retain all of the beneficial microbes. One downside is that our refrigerator is the only place we have to keep things consistently cool, without freezing, so I would be using up some fridge space for 4 to 6 months, which is how long the instructions say you should keep them there.
The liquid is cloudy, but there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's very right. The instructions say that if you are going to can the pickles, you need to strain the liquid through a coffee filter to remove the cloudiness. Clearer liquid tends to look more palatable to people, since we are accustomed to seeing canned pickles in clear liquid. But I'm assuming that straining out the cloudiness means straining out much of the beneficial aspects. This wouldn't matter if you were going to subject them to heat via canning, anyway, but it would defeat the purpose of storing them cold if I strained the liquid just for looks.
So, I poured the cloudy, but very healthy, liquid evenly into the two quart-sized jars of pickles. I then capped them, labeled them (very important!!!!) and them put them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
I will also need to check them now and then and remove any scum that might form, but I doubt it will.
As you would imagine, naturally fermented pickles, canned or not, taste different from those pickled in a lot of vinegar. But this has some vinegar, as well as the salt (essential for fermentation of vegetables), dill, garlic, hot pepper, and spices.
Very good!!!
Consider making naturally fermented dills and just keeping them cool.
But if you want to can them, follow the rest of the instructions in the posted recipe, as well as general canning instructions in this or other canning books.
And consider growing pickling cucumbers, dill, garlic, and chili peppers in your garden!!
(You may have seen an old photo, drawing, or painting of the inside of an old general store. Often there would be a pickle barrel. You could buy a pickle right out of the barrel. Also, people often had a pickle barrel in their basement or cellar. This was a good treat in the days before candy and chips became so prevalent!)
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