Before the season ends, make a special trip to your local farmers market to purchase some organic pickling cucumbers, fresh dill, and garlic to make these amazing pickles. Lacto-fermented foods are foods that have been through a process of lacto-fermentation where the natural bacteria feed on the sugars ad starches in the food to create lactic acid. This process not only preserves the food but creates beneficial enzymes, B vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids and various strains of probiotics. The process is simple and from start to finish takes 7 days. All you need are several mason jars and either some pickle pebbles that keep the cucumbers submerged as they ferment, or small zip lock bags filled with a little bit of water as weights. You can follow the same recipe using small carrots as well! The secret to making crisp, crunchy pickles is adding either a few grape or oak leaves to the brine to make a tannin rich ferment. I experimented with a pinch of loose leaf oolong tea as an alternative and my pickles turned out perfectly!
Ingredients:
- 1 litre mason jars
- unrefined sea salt or pink himalayan salt
- a pinch of loose leaf oolong or black tea (per jar)
- whole garlic cloves (2 per jar)
- fresh dill (a large sprig per jar)
- a few chili flakes (per jar)
- fresh organic pickling cucumbers
Place a large sprig of dill, 2 whole peeled cloves or garlic, a pinch of tea, and a pinch of chili flakes in each of the mason jars.
Pack the raw cucumbers into the jars. I like to press a bigger one into the top so that it is wedged between the walls of the mason jar. This helps to keep the ones below submerged in the brine.
To prepare the brine, combine 5 Tbsp. of salt with 8 cups of room temperature water. Stir until the salt dissolves. Pour the brine over the cucumbers leaving a one to two inch head space.
Carefully place a pickle pebble or a small sandwich bag with a bit of water in it on top of each jar making sure that the contents are fully submerged. A few tea leaves and red pepper flakes may float to the top but that is o.k. Leave on your counter top out of direct sunlight for 7 days. If a little bit of mould does form simply scoop it off the top. It is harmless.
After 7 days, cap the pickles and store in the fridge. They will last up to 2 years in the fridge!