Fermented Pickles

This is the easiest ferment you’ll ever make, so simple it feels like a practical joke: put cucumbers and salt water in a jar, do nothing for a few days, and wind up with the best pickles you’ve ever had. I crunch on them straight from the fridge, when they are salty, cool, and refreshing.

Okay, so you do have to boil the water to make the brine, plus add garlic cloves and a few optional seasonings to the jar. And you’ll need to check on the jar every day, but come on—how can you not? The magic of fermentation will make you feel like a kid. In fact, if you have kids, do this project with them. 

Old-Time Stories of Pickling

What we in America call dill pickles are a beloved tradition in Eastern Europe and many American communities with Eastern European heritage: Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia. You’ll see all sorts of variations, but they are all essentially cucumbers fermented in a saltwater brine with maybe a few flavorings added (most notably garlic and, of course, dill). 

Canning was not a fixture of households until the early 1900s, and neither was refrigeration. Before that, people fermented pickles in the summer and stashed them in a cool place for storage. Even now, when I talk to people who grew up in rural areas in the 1950s, they’ll say things like, “My grandmother had a giant crock of pickles with plates on top and she’d keep it in the cellar.” 

City folk, who had less space for giant crocks, got their pickles already made at shops right in their neighborhoods–and if you go to one of the few remaining authentic delis in North America, that’s the kind of pickles they’ll be serving.

The Best Jar for Pickling

The best jar for this is also the hardest to get unless you know someone who saves giant old jars (umm, me). A dedicated pickler will come to covet two to three-quart jars that once held store-bought pickles or fruit salad. I scour thrift stores for them.

Don’t have this rare and special jar on hand? Don’t worry. I developed this recipe for two 1-quart jars.

Ferment Now, Can Later

I just keep my pickles in the fridge, but if you want (and you have a crock big enough), you can make a big old batch and water bath can your pickles for storing at room temperature (the color and flavor of the pickles changes in the canning process). 

Ferment your pickles according to the method below, then can them with these directions from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Play Around With Seasonings

I’ve made these with no additional seasoning but garlic cloves and they still turn out magnificent. However, for these to be dill pickles, you need some form of dill. Fortunately, there’s a lot of leverage you have with flavoring these.

• Use any form of dill: fresh sprigs, dill heads from your garden, dried dill weed, or dried whole dill seeds.
• Slip a few halved fresh hot peppers in the jar instead of the dried pepper.
• If you grow your own horseradish, tuck a fresh horseradish leaf in the jar before you add the seasonings, cukes, and brine (this tip came from Olia Hercules’ “Summer Kitchens,” which has all kinds of enticing ferments for you to try).
• If you love rhubarb, trim a few stalks and sneak those into the jar, too. Pickled rhubarb is really tasty and pleasantly tart.

Use Up Those Pickles 

You probably don’t need my help in knowing what to do with your finished pickles. For maximum enjoyment, eat them right out of the jar or sidled next to your favorite sandwich. Other ideas:

• Chop them up and use them in relishes, sauces, and slaws.
• Add them to potato or tuna salad. 
• Once your jar is empty, use the brine to brine chicken breasts or shrimp.

Thank you to The Castle in Marietta, Ohio, for hosting us for this photo shoot.

Other Pickle Recipes to Tickle Your Taste Buds

• How to Make Sauerkraut
• How to Make Quick Pickles
• Pickled Eggs
• Quick Pickled Radishes
• Pickled Beets