Lacto-Fermented Dill Pickles
Crisp, tangy dill pickles made the traditional way — fermented with a whey starter, no canning or vinegar required. Store in the refrigerator after fermenting.
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Ingredients
- - Pickling cucumbers enough to pack your jar
- - 1 large garlic clove per quart jar - optional
- - 1 tablespoon mustard seed per quart jar
- - 1-2 tablespoons dill 2 tablespoons if using fresh dill; 1 tablespoon if using dried dill seed
Brine
- - 1 T Salt — use canning salt or sea salt only not table salt (table salt has anti-caking additives that will cloud the brine)
- - 4 tablespoons whey see notes for how to make this
- - 1 cup water
Instructions
- Wash cucumbers and cut off the blossom end of each one. (This end contains enzymes that can make pickles go soft, so trimming it helps keep them crisp.)
- Pack the jar tightly with the cucumbers. Whole is fine or cut oversized cucumbers in half to fit.
- Add the garlic, mustard seed, and dill seed to the jar.
- Add the salt to the jar.
- Make the brine: mix 4 tablespoons of whey with 1 cup of water. Make more as needed. See notes on extra brine.
- Pour the brine over the cucumbers so they are fully under the liquid. If you need more liquid to cover them, add plain water, plus 1 tablespoon of salt for every extra cup of water. Leave 1 inch of space at the top of the jar. The pickles may swell a bit while they ferment
- Cap the jar and leave it on the counter for 3 days to ferment.
- Move the jar to the refrigerator for storage. Discard any pickles that turn slimy, smell off, or show mold.
Notes
Note on extra brine if needed: Some jars may need more liquid than others, depending on how tightly you pack them. Sally only mentions adding more water in the book. However if you are adding more than a little water, it will dilute the brine. I don't care for that... my opinion is to keep the ratios in the brine correct to maintain good fermenting.
Keep the salt in step with the water, about 1 tablespoon of salt per cup, so the brine stays the right strength.
How to make whey: Place plain yogurt in a cheesecloth bag and let it hang and drip over a bowl. The liquid that drips out is your whey. What's left in the bag turns into a thick, cream-cheese-like product — don't throw that out. Whey can also be made from kefir.
If you don't have whey , you can still make this recipe. Just add 1 extra Tablespoon of salt to replace the whey. (so 2 T total)
Storage: Keep refrigerated at around 40°F. A little temperature variation is fine — a standard refrigerator works well. Best quality within 3-6 months; after that they'll gradually soften and turn more sour, but this is a quality change, not a safety issue.
This is a fermented recipe, not a canning recipe. Do not store at room temperature after the initial 3-day ferment.
Adapted from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.
Servings: 1 quart jars