Garlic Dill Pickles--the Old-Fashioned Way!

You're right, this IS an old painting done years ago when I pickled with vinegar!  My computer with all my images is in the shop...

 
I've been experimenting with pickling and brining and fermenting, as mentioned in this post, and last week our good buddy R.E.--he of the gorgeous organic garden--brought us 6 gigantic cucumbers of a new variety that gets huge but not bitter or tough.

Faced with THAT much bounty, all we could do was pickle!  I made a fresh cucumber, onion, and tomato salad in apple cider vinegar and Joseph made his famous sweet relish the usual way with sugar, vinegar, spices and all, but I couldn't resist brining some garlic dills to see how they turned out...and did they ever!

I love the idea of brining or fermenting vegetables...no need for steamy hot kitchens that way, and I love the free probiotics!  So I checked in all my books and ended up using the basics from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fermenting Foods.

First, I got out my basic brine I keep on hand for those delicious krauts--

BASIC BRINE

6 T. fine grain sea salt (or 9 of coarse grain)
8 C. water

Combine and stir still dissolved.  Tough, isn't it?  Some recipes call for heating the water and then letting it cool, but that seems a bit...silly.  If you know of a pressing reason for doing it that way, let me know!

----------------

GARLIC DILL PICKLES



This is a bit loose for an actual recipe, since it depends on how many pickles you have. 

These cucumbers were WAY too big to use whole...you'd practically need a 55 gallon drum!  So I sliced some into rounds and cut some into spears long enough to fit into a wide mouth pint jar, leaving an inch of headroom. I figured on filling 5 wide-mouth pint jars, so I just kept slicing till I had enough.

Some people suggest submerging the pickles in ice cold water for half an hour, unless they're fresh-picked.  I skipped that step...

I'd previously pickled some garlic, so I put 2 cloves into each jar and a couple of sprigs of fresh dill.  If you want, you can use 1 tsp. of dill seed instead.

SO.  Pack your pickles, garlic cloves, dill, etc. into the jars, cover with brine, leaving about an inch of headroom, and weigh  the vegetables down so they stay below the level of the brine.  You can use a smaller jar lid, a very clean round stone, or commercial fermenting weights, but do keep checking every day to make sure the vegetables are well covered.

Cover with a lid and let nature take its course--3-7 days depending on your weather (things ferment faster in warmer weather.) I "burped" mine by removing the lid once a day and to check their progress.  Then transfer to the fridge and enjoy!


* NOTE: To keep my pickles crisp, I put one clean oak leaf in the bottom of each jar!  Yep, you can use oak, grape, raspberry, or even black tea--it's the tannin that does the job.

** NOTE #2:  Sometimes home-brined veggies can develop a thin, whitish skim on top of the brine...that's kahm yeast and it doesn't hurt a thing (unless you're allergic to yeast.)  Skim it off before storing, though, because eventually it can affect the flavor.  If the brine gets slimy or ropy, toss it--but that's unlikely!

We had ours with Joseph's delicious organic-beef burgers last night...

We've been fermenting vegetables at home!

These are incredibly healthful, full of vitamins, minerals and probiotics...but MOST important is the fact that they're delicious.  I experimented this time  and used red and white cabbage...hot pink!

Tsukemono (Japanese kraut) 

1 med. head of cabbage, shredded (I used red AND white this time for a pretty magenta!)
1 bunch green onions (or sweet onions, or I used garlic chives this time...)
2 T. fermented wheat-free organic Tamari sauce instead of soy sauce, and this time I used coconut aminos, which seemed to give it that smoky flavor...)
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 T. sea salt
1/4 c. basic whey (I strain plain yogurt, which makes more whey than Greek, which is already strained. This time I added a little of the juice from a jar of Bubbies kraut too, since I didn't quite have a quarter cup of whey...)

Combine everything in a large bowl, cover and let sit for 30 minutes...halfway through, pound with a wooden mallet, knead, or otherwise make sure it's getting juicy.

Transfer to a large mouth Qt. jar, press down to make sure liquid covers, leaving 1" space at the top. Cover tightly with lid or airlock. (As noted, you can use a large cabbage leaf tucked in to hold everything down. Gonna try that next time!)

Leave at room temp 3-7 days, in the first day or two open the jar and keep pressing down firmly to make sure liquid covers it, then transfer to cool storage. YUM.

You can add bits of carrot or beets, if you wish, too...really good!

Oh yeah...the jar WAS full, but I've been...checking it, yeah, that's the ticket!  Checking...