Probiotic Dill Pickles
I have always enjoyed my homemade refrigerated pickles but now I am excited about the idea of having fermented pickles around. I used my favorite homemade classic dill spice recipe I experimented with for a while until I found the perfect blend for my palate.I did let the ferment go a little longer than I probably should have as it started to develop some kahm yeast around 2 weeks. The pickles were just fine though and were deliciously sour. I look forward to making a few more jars before the season is over.
Ingredients:
1 lb pickles
1 large grape leaf
2 tsp peppercorns
8 cloves garlic
2 tbsp/10 grams fresh dill leaves
2 bay leaves
¼ tsp mustard seed
3.5% brine solution
Yield: 1 quart
Date Prepared: September 7, 2017
Date Harvested: September 30, 2017
Length of Ferment: 23 days
Modifications/Troubleshooting:
None.
What Would I Do/Try Differently Next Time:
Next time I will do a shorter ferment, only 10-14 days, to minimize the kahm yeast. Since I am working on balancing candida overgrowth, I discarded the brine for these pickles. I look forward to using the brine of future fermented pickles to make some of my favorite salad dressings, sauces and marinades. I will use a larger jar or maybe even a crock as it was challenging getting the pickles arranged to fit well in the quart size mason jar and it was hard to get the pickles to move around to release air bubbles because they were too tightly packed in. Plus, a quart is just not enough. I also took the risk of not using a weight with this ferment, so the pickles got a little discolored on top which I cut off before eating. Next time I will use a weight to help hold down the cucumbers more.
All packed in and ready to ferment using a pickle pipe silicone airlock.
Dill pickles fermented for 23 days….they turned out very sour and delicious!
