How to Make Homemade Lacto-Fermented Pickles

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Pickles are probably the only fermented food that I liked even as a small child. My mom often brought home store-bought jars of pickles because she knew how much I loved them and was glad to have an alternative to unhealthy candy for the her children to eat.

It wasn’t even that unusual for me to receive a jar of pickles as a reward for something good I had done that day! I would eat all of them over the course of one or two days and then, I would drink all the pickle juice like it was the best tasting in the world. I suppose for me it was!

Now that I think of it, I believe that my body at the time was craving pickles because it knew that it was good for me. Lacto-fermented cucumbers are full of necessary probiotics that were taking care of my gut flora and making sure it worked properly. I am sure glad I listened to my body then! I think it might have been what saved my digestive system from further damage despite eating a lot of processed canned foods at home.

Here is a short overview of what makes pickles so good for us:

  1. Lacto-fermentation: Lacto-fermentation occurs when you use whey and salt. It restricts the development of the so-called “bad” bacteria while stimulating growth of the good ones. These are called probiotics. Nowadays, I eat plenty of homemade lacto-fermented food, like water kefir, beet kvass, or sauerkraut. Humans don’t eat as many fermented foods anymore because we now have more methods of preserving food. I think it’s a real shame, though. Lacto-fermentation was a vital part of our ancestors’ diet and I intend to preserve that tradition, at least in my home.
  2. Sea salt: Salt was always important for preserving foods and it was normal to follow diets with high salt content. We hear stories about how salt is bad for us and avoid it all costs but I believe that we are actually not eating enough salt. Low salt diet is actually suggested to be bad for your health but not many people are aware of that. When I was a child, a part of what drew me so much to pickles, was the delicious salty taste and I think I was craving for salt. Sure, too much salt is also not too good but you need the right balance. We can’t just blame salt for our health problems without exploring its full properties.
  3. Vitamins: The vitamin content in foods increases during the lacto-fermentation process. This makes pickles a good source of vitamin K, B2, B9, and more! They are not your standard sources for these vitamins but can serve as a good supplement nevertheless.

Onto the recipe! I will show you how to make two versions of pickles in this post: regular traditional dill pickles and garlic dill pickles.

Traditional dill pickles:

Necessary equipment:

  • a quart glass mason jar with a lid
  • optional: a sharp knife

Ingredients:

  • 4 to 5 cucumbers or gherkins
  • 1 T. of sea salt
  • 1 T. of whey (how to make whey)
  • 1-2 T. of chopped fresh dill OR 1 t. of dried dill
  • 1 t. of mustard seeds
  • filtered water

Instructions:

  1. Clean the jar you are going to use to make your pickles. You can even boil it to make sure it’s fully free of dirt.
  2. Pack the cucumbers or gherkins in the glass jar. You can cut them into horizontal slices if you want to.
  3. Put the sea salt, whey, and mustard seeds on top. Do the same with dried dill. If you are using fresh dill, cram it down the sides.
  4. Fill the jar with filtered water almost to the top. Leave at least half an inch of free space.
  5. Screw on the lid and shake the jar gently so that the sea salt and water combine.
  6. Leave the closed jar at room temperature for at least three days and a maximum of seven days. The duration depends on how you prefer your pickles to taste. You can take them out to try out the flavor and if you decide you want to ferment them for longer, just put the lid back on.
  7. When you want the lacto-fermentation process to stop, put the jar in the fridge.

Garlic dill pickles:

Necessary equipment:

  • a quart glass mason jar with a lid
  • optional: a sharp knife

Ingredients:

  • 4 to 5 cucumbers or gherkins
  • 1 T. of sea salt
  • 1 T. of whey (how to make whey)
  • 1-2 T. of chopped fresh dill OR 1 t. of dried dill
  • 1 t. of mustard seeds
  • 3 cloves of peeled garlic
  • filtered water

Instructions:

  1. Clean the jar you are going to use to make your pickles. You can even boil it to make sure it’s fully free of dirt.
  2. Pack the cucumbers or gherkins in the glass jar. You can cut them into horizontal slices if you want to.
  3. Put the sea salt, whey, and mustard seeds on top. Do the same with dried dill. If you are using fresh dill, cram it down the sides. The garlic cloves should also be stuffed in the sides of the jar.
  4. Fill the jar with filtered water almost to the top. Leave at least half an inch of free space.
  5. Screw on the lid and shake the jar gently so that the sea salt and water combine.
  6. Leave the closed jar at room temperature for at least three days and a maximum of seven days. The duration depends on how you prefer your pickles to taste. You can take them out to try out the flavor and if you decide you want to ferment them for longer, just put the lid back on.
  7. When you want the lacto-fermentation process to stop, put the jar in the fridge.

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