Making Fermented Dill Pickles

Timeframe: 3 to 4 weeks

Special equipment: 1 quart-sized glass jar

Ingredients for 1 quart:
- 1.5 lbs of 4-inch pickling cucumbers
- 1 tablespoon dried dill weed
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes (optional)
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1/8 cup vinegar
- 4 cups water

Process:
1. Wash cucumbers. Cut off the stems if you desire.

2. Place half of the spices (garlic, pepper flakes, dill weed) at the bottom of the jar.
3. Add cucumbers. Pack tightly.
4. Add remaining spices.
4. Dissolve the salt in the vinegar and water. Pour the mixture over cucumbers.
5. Put a lid on the jar and store it where temperatures are between 70 and 75 degrees F for about 3 to 4 weeks while fermenting for "full-sour" kosher dill pickles

Ta dah!

Caught in a Pickle!

A pickled cucumber (commonly known as a pickle in the United States) is a cucumber that has been pickled in brine and left to ferment for a period time through souring by lacto-fermentation, the process by which bacteria turns the present sugar into lactic acid. The earliest known examples of pickled cucumbers are from Mesopotamia around 2030 BCE, when inhabitants from northern India brought cucumber seeds to the Tigris Valley.

Pickles galore!

Tigris Valley, where pickles originated.

My personal favorite kind of pickle is the kosher dill pickle. A kosher dill pickle is not necessarily kosher in the sense that it has been prepared under rabbinical supervision. Rather, it is a pickle made in the style of Jewish New York City pickle makers, with generous addition of garlic and dill weed to a natural salt brine. Although dill pickles have been prepared in Germany and Poland for hundreds of years, they didn't come to the United States until New York restaurants (owned by Jewish immigrants) began serving them in late 19th century. In New York terminology, a "full-sour" kosher dill is one that has been fully fermented, while a "half-sour", given a shorter stay in the brine, is still crisp and bright green. Elsewhere, these pickles may be termed "old" and "new" dills. 

Jews <3 pickles.
[Courtesy of JewishJournal.com]