These classic lacto-fermented pickles are super easy, crunchy, flavourful and packed with probiotics! They are excellent for your health!
Every summer my grandma would make all kinds of pickles with freshly picked veggies from her garden. I loved watching her fill the jars with vegetables and then pour the brine over them. The rows of colourful pickled jars in the cellar always made me feel like we were really rich.
The technique called lacto-fermentation is the best way to preserve foods naturally and has been around for thousands of years. The idea is simple: the salt kills any “bad” bacteria, while allowing “good” healthy bacteria that grow on vegetables called lactobacillus to flourish and naturally preserve the food making a tasty probiotic treats.
Are Fermented Foods Good For Your Health?
I grew up with fermented foods like pickles, sauerkraut and kvass and I know well their connection to healthy gut flora. They promote good health, aid digestion, help manage weight, improve immunity and clear the skin. Gut microbiome is connected with brain as well, therefore affecting our mood. Healthy gut contains trillions of good bacteria that act like army cheerleaders, boosting our mood, combating anxiety and depression. One of the best ways to get that good bacteria into our guts is through fermented foods.
We love fermented foods and drinks! They are excellent for your health and are so yummy!
I now make my own pickles using grandma’s recipe with fresh cucumbers from the garden.
These are not your typical store-bought vinegary pickles. Vinegar is most commonly used to achieve the sour flavour and acts as preservative. They are super acidic, tangy, sometimes spicy, and definitely crunchy. However, they are missing one thing that you’ll get with lacto-fermented pickles: probiotics!
These lacto-fermented pickles are both delicious and a breeze to make, with the only downside being their inability to be kept for a long time. Not that it’s an issue – in our house they disappear faster than I can ferment a new batch.
How To Make Lacto-Fermented Pickles?
The recipe is so easy and highly adjustable. The main rule is 1 heaping tablespoon of sea or kosher salt per 1 litre of filtered water. It is important to use plain salt without additives such as iodine like in iodized salt as this will interfere with fermentation process.
Try picking smaller cucumbers as they are the crunchiest. I also like to layer some leaves on top of the jar to cover the brine which adds nice aroma and crispiness. The best ones to use are black currant, sour cherry or grape leaves.
One other tip is to trim off both ends of cucumbers. This will help them stay more crunchy.
If I have a small batch of cucumbers I’ll ferment them in jars, otherwise I usually dump them all into pickling crock
Fermentation process takes anywhere from 24 hours to 5 days. The longer pickles ferment the healthier they become. I recommend starting with 24 hours – do a taste check, let them sit for another few days and check again. After 5 days I store the pickles covered in brine inside the airtight container. Lacto-fermented pickles can last for 1-2 weeks in the fridge (maybe longer, but we’ve always finished them before that).
Healthy eating!
Lacto-Fermented Pickles
Ingredients
- small cucumbers fit as many as you can in a jar to make sure they sit tight to each other
- 4 garlic cloves lightly smashed
- 2 dill stalks with “umbrellas”
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- few slices of horseradish root peeled
- few black currant, sour cherry or grape leaves
- 5 peppercorns
Brine
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 L boiling water
Instructions
- Wash cucumbers, dill stalks and leaves in cold water. Then cover with water and set aside.
- Boil water for the brine. You will need as much water to completely cover the cucumbers.
- Sterilize the jar and its lid by washing them in the dishwasher.
- To the bottom of sterilized jar add dill, peppercorns, bay leaves and half of garlic, mustard and fennel seeds.
- Trim off both ends of cucumbers (this will help them stay more crunchy) and fit tightly as many as you can into the jar leaving about an inch of space at the top.
- Fit horseradish slices and the remaining garlic between cucumbers.
- Put one more dill umbrella on the top and sprinkle the cucumbers with the remaining fennel and mustard seeds.
Brine
- Dissolve salt in hot water and pour it into the jar. The cucumbers must be submerged fully in water and tightly placed so they don’t float above the water level.
- Layer the leaves on top and cover the jar with cheesecloth, Let it sit at room temperature anywhere from 24 hours to 5 days days. After a couple of days you’ll see the colour changing and the brine will turn a little cloudy. This is all good!
- Fermentation process takes anywhere from 24 hours to 5 days. The longer pickles ferment the healthier they become. I recommend starting with 24 hours – do a taste check, let them sit for another few days and check again. After 5 days I transfer pickles to the fridge.
- Lacto-fermented pickles can last for 1-2 weeks in the fridge (maybe longer, but we’ve always finished them before that).
Notes
More Fermented Foods Recipes:
Kefir Pancakes – My ultimate fave breakfast dish growing up.
Salmon Gravlax – It’s a wonderful addition to salads, sandwiches or canapés.
Farmers Cheese – It could be enjoyed on its own, sprinkled over your salads, used in desserts, stuffed into pierogis and much more.
Excellent review of how many families in Eastern Europe still make pickles. These are excellent and are great for your tummy. However, there is a way to make them last all winter: after these have fermented, the trick is to pour the fermented liquid into a pan and let it come just to a boil, let cool slightly, so it doesn’t break the jar, and pour the liquid back into the can. Cover with a flat lid + round counterpart. As the liquid continues to cool, it will seal the lid with a pop. These are now ready to be kept for months at a time, and will become sooo delicious while staying crunchy. Enjoy!
You are so right Elena! It is a great option to reboil the brine after it finished fermenting! This will make them last much longer! Thank you!
I wonder what kind of difference it makes to add leaves from your garden to the top of the pickles before you seal the jar. I have never used anything that wasn’t in a recipe before just on a whim, so that caught me off guard! Does it change the taste of the pickles / vinegar when you use them? Very cool. Your recipe is extremely detailed and your pictures are beautiful! Thank you for sharing your recipe, I’ll have to give it a try! Wish me luck!
Thanks Billy! The leaves are for aroma and crispiness purposes. They also help the cucumbers stay submerged under the brine.
Do you pour the brine over the cucumbers while it’s still hot, or wait for it to cool down first?
You should let the brine come down to room temp first. There’s really no need to boil the water at all. I usually just warm my water in the microwave a little to help the salt dissolve, then whisk in the salt. Then it sits on the counter while I’m prepping my other ingredients. It has worked for me every time. I always worried that boiling brine would start to cook the cukes and soften them, but that’s just my personal worry.
I would like to try thick slices of cucumber in a smaller, pint jar. Do you think that would work or is it better to bring whole pickles?
I’ve done both and they work either way. The slices stay nice and crunchy, and they are easier to eat if you don’t feel like eating a whole pickle!
I am assuming the water is poured in the jar still hot, right?