13/11/2022
Homemade Fermented Dill Pickles: Recap and Update
Joanne, some time ago, had bought a container of “pickling spices” from the grocery store so I used that instead of Chef John’s spice mixture. I went to the local farmer’s market and bought a “bag” of pickling cucumbers and a bunch of dill.
I layered the dill as in the video and used the same ratio of kosher salt to water. I dumped the entire contents of the pickling-spice container into the brine. Noticeably, there was a dried Thai red-chili pepper floating on top.
Note: I've become a garlic snob and now prefer to only use hardneck garlic. More on this to come in future posts. I added a couple of cloves of hardneck garlic to this brine.
We were optimistic about this adventure.
Rookie Move No. 1
I completely forgot about the chlorine in the city’s tap water. I should have used tap water that I let sit in a container for an hour to permit the chlorine to evaporate.
Also, making these in the summertime would have kept the crock’s internal temperature closer to constant, and over 70ºF. Mid November saw the house (and crock) get cold at night and then warm again during the day. Chef John places his crock in a cooler but ours was too small for the damn crock.
Day 4: I Check The Pickles
Despite their sub-perfect start, I can clearly detect a “pickle” odor emanating from the crock’s location.
I remind myself that these ARE NOT store-bought factory-made vinegar-brine pickles. No. These are naturally fermented homemade pickles that are supposed to be a super-wonderful pre-biotic for my microbiome.
I remove the lid and see a layer of floating spices (pepper corns, cloves, etc.). Many of the spices had also sunk into the brine. I see no scum that Chef John experienced. I remove a pickle, rinse, and taste it.
The cucumbers had absorbed a lot of the spice flavors. The pickle is very crunchy. The flavor had some similar aspects of vinegar dill pickles but the salt brine clearly has its own unique flavor.
I return the crock to its place next to a furnace vent and I give it another 3 days of fermenting.
Day 7: I Check Them Again
I'm concerned that the brine has none of that scum that Chef John experienced and I wonder if that was due to the damn chlorine. Interestingly, the crock feels very warm to the touch when I lift it onto the kitchen counter.
I remove the lid and I see no top scum. I then remove one of the weights and fish out a pickle. I rinse it and take a bite. The pickle has reduced its crunch factor by about 25%. You can feel the pickle give a little as you bite into it but it still has plenty of crunch. The pickle has a wonderful flavor and I ate 2 of them. The heat from the Thai pepper nicely lingers in your mouth after swallowing. Admittedly, they are salty so I intend on restricting myself to one a day.
I love the fact that these pickles are super low calorie and are a wonderful pre-biotic for my microbiome.
I bottled them. My brine is brown and cloudy just like Chef John’s. I saw no scum on the brine’s surface but I see some stuck to the crock’s side while I was cleaning it.
I'm very pleased with making homemade fermented dill pickles and I look forward to coming up with my own unique spice-ratio mixture.
Have you ever made homemade pickles?
