Lacto Fermented Cucumber Pickles by Sharon A. Kane

Ingredients:
4 small cucumbers
1 medium onion
2 pinches black mustard seed
8-10 black peppercorns
2 cloves garlic
1 dill flower head or a small handful of dill leaves
A few thoroughly washed leaves: horseradish, raspberry, cabbage, bok choy or Swiss Chard

For the brine:
2 quarts filtered or spring water
Pure salt, kosher or sea salt, with no additives

Equipment:
Large pot for boiling water
1 wide mouth quart canning jar
1 canning lid and 1 canning ring
1 rock that fits easily through the mouth of the canning jar. Garden rocks are great. Look for a rock about 2-3 inches in diameter and not more than 1 inch high. Scrub it with a brush, run through dishwasher or wash thoroughly by hand.
Small pot for sterilizing the canning lid, ring and rock
Something to press the cucumbers into the jar: a crab mallet, a wooden food grinder pusher, etc.
Wide mouth funnel (optional) for filling the jar
Ladle

Directions:
Measure 2 quarts of water into a pot and bring to a boil for 4 minutes
Let cool uncovered for ½ hour
Add 3 tablespoons of salt and stir to dissolve
Let brine come to room temperature, (may take up to 4 hours)

Wash quart canning jar in very hot water and rinse thoroughly.
Put canning lid, ring and rock in small pot, cover with tap water and boil for 4 minutes. Let water cool a bit and pour off water.
Let lid, ring and rock cool while you assemble the vegetable ingredients in the jar.

On bottom of canning jar put:
Dill
Peppercorns
Mustard seed
Peeled and coarsely chopped garlic

Wash cucumbers and cut ends off
Slice into discs about ½ inch thick
Start filling jar with cucumber discs and when the cucumbers reach about 2 inches high, use the food pusher to press them down. This bruises the vegetables and gets the juices flowing while reducing air pockets in the final product.
Chop a small amount of onion and put a thin layer of chopped onion on top of the cukes and press with the food pusher.

Continue layering cukes and onion in this manner until approximately 2 inches of empty space is left on the top of the jar. Use the food pusher one last time to press the vegetables.

Take your leaves, (remember, they can be horseradish, raspberry, cabbage, bok choy, or Swiss chard.
Remove any hard ribs, leaving pieces of leaf approximately the size of the opening of the wide mouth jar.
Take a leaf and lay it over the vegetables. With your fingers, gently press it to the edges of the jar. Use 3-5 more leaves in this manner, overlapping each other so that the vegetables are totally covered. We’re applying this leaf layer to prevent vegetables from floating up to the top of the brine where they could get moldy.

Take your cooled rock and place it on top of the leaf layer.
Start ladling brine into the jar to the level of the rock.
Tilt the jar slightly to release air bubbles. You can also push down on the rock a little to release air bubbles.
Add more brine to cover the rock leaving 1 inch of space between the top of the brine and the top of the jar.
Let this sit for a little while, about 10 minutes to allow any other air bubbles to come up. Add more brine if necessary, to one inch from the top of the jar.

With a paper towel:
wipe the top of the jar to dry off any brine
wipe the lid and ring and cover the jar with the lid and ring.

Fermentation:
Let the jar sit in a quiet place for 3 days at room temperature, about 69-73.
Then place in the refrigerator.
Pickles will be ready in about 3-7 days.

When you open the jar for tasting, sniff the jar as soon as you open it.
It should smell simultaneously sweet, sour, salty and fresh.
Remove the rock and the leaf layer, (discard).
Take a spoon and sip a small amount of the brine.
It should taste pleasant.
If it tastes good, taste a small piece of the cucumber.
Again, it should taste pleasant.

Use about 2 tablespoons of lactofermented vegetables at every meal to gently add probiotics to your diet. You may want to start with a smaller amount, like 1 teaspoon and gradually build up.

Signs that the batch is spoiled:
If it explodes out of the jar when you open it discard it immediately.
If it smells rank, vinegary or like wine it may be spoiled.
If it is slimy, or stings your tongue you should discard it.

Don’t take chances, when in doubt, throw it out!

After the initial 3 day fermentation at room temperature, all lactofermented vegetables should be stored in the refrigerator because they are live foods and will overferment very quickly at room temperature. In the old days people had cool root cellars that were perfect for cold storage but most of us will do best with the fridge.

These cucumber pickles will be good for 1-2 months.

FYI: The basic recipe for making brine is 1½ tablespoons salt per quart of water or 6 tablespoons per gallon.

Learn how to use lacto-fermentation for a variety of vegetables through the season!