Summary
| Yield | |
|---|---|
| Source | Lynn Siprelle, Editor |
| Prep Time | 6 hours |
| Recipes | Canning and Preserving |
Description
These are not canned-type pickles; these are fermented on the counter for a few days like kimchi, then put in the fridge or another cool spot. They are super super delicious and extremely good for you! You should eat something fermented with every meal; very good for the digestion. As with any preservation process, you should wash your utensils, hands and jars very well before using, but unlike canning you don't need to sterilize jars in this case. (You can if you want and are cautious, but I don't.)
You will need a wide-mouth canning jar for this.
Ingredients
- 3 medium-sized pickling cukes
- 4 green onions
- 1T kosher or sea salt
- 1T whey* or another T salt
- 1 lime, juiced
- 3clove garlic, peeled and halved
- 1t red pepper flakes
Instructions
Slice the cukes into rounds; leave the skin on if it's thin or a pickling cuke. Chop the green onions, including the green parts. In a wide, flat bowl, mix the cukes and green onions with the other ingredients. Take a meat hammer or other pounder (I use the end of my rolling pin, which is just a thick wooden dowel) and lightly pound the veggies to release some of their juices. Pack everything into the mason jar, including the juice, and pound lightly again. There should be AT LEAST an inch of head space in the jar. Close the lid tightly and leave in a warm (but not too warm) place for two to three days, depending on the temperature. Leave out longer if it's cool, shorter if it's warm.
At the end of the fermentation time, transfer to the fridge. The pickles should smell like pickles--sour and mouth-watering! If they smell unappetizing or have any kind of mold or bacteria growing on them, discard them. They will last in the fridge for some months (but rarely do because they get eaten at our house) and if they sit longer than a week they may develop a harmless and rather delightful sparkle. I have yet to have a batch of pickles go bad.
Once you've gotten into the habit of making pickles, you can use your pickle juice instead of the whey to get things going. Don't use commercial pickle juice! It won't work.
Notes
*See Yogurt Cheese recipe. I prefer the extra salt, myself, as the whey can make pickles mushy sometimes. Though yogurt cheese is yummy--give it a shot!
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 | Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods Amazon price: $16.50 |
Technorati Tags: Canning and Preserving fermentation lacto-fermentation health preserving pickling traditional food
