- Joined
- May 27, 2012
- Messages
- 5,194
- Location
- Bellmere, QLD
- Website
- www.selfsufficientme.com
- Climate
- Sub-Tropical
- Admin
- #1
I've been wanting to pickle cucumbers the lacto fermentation way for several months and now that cucumber growing season is here I have my first real harvest!
Cucumbers can theoretically be grown all year round in the subtropics; however, they don't grow too well through summer or winter and I find the most realistic time to grow them is autumn and spring (especially spring).
So I picked my first real harvest this afternoon and immediately packed them into one of my big Fido fermenting jars with an airlock added some garlic, fresh dill (including some seeds), topped it off with a few grape leaves, and then poured my brine over to cover.
The grape leaves are supposed to release tannin, which helps to keep the cucumbers crisp and crunchy plus when they are stuffed into the top of the jar they stop herbs etc from rising up and floating on top of the brine.
I make the brine out of natural sea salt and spring water at a ratio of 1 tablespoon of salt per 1 cup of water. It sounds like a lot of salt but it is about right and certainly worked perfectly for my pickled mixed vegetables.
On top of the grape leaves I placed two smooth river rocks (I boiled and cleaned them) and this is to keep everything under the brine, which is very important otherwise it could spoil.
I've never made fermented pickled cucumbers before so I'm not exactly sure how long it will take? Some say about 10 days but it could several weeks... we'll see hey.
Look at these little beauties!
Rubbed the spikes off the cucumbers and sliced the bigger ones into smaller pieces. There's a few West Indian cucumbers there also, plus the garlic and dill.
Grape leaves and rocks on top.
Making the brine and pour that over.
Now the wait begins for the fermentation process to do its thing - I'll probably test them in about 10 days time to see how they are tasting.
Cucumbers can theoretically be grown all year round in the subtropics; however, they don't grow too well through summer or winter and I find the most realistic time to grow them is autumn and spring (especially spring).
So I picked my first real harvest this afternoon and immediately packed them into one of my big Fido fermenting jars with an airlock added some garlic, fresh dill (including some seeds), topped it off with a few grape leaves, and then poured my brine over to cover.
The grape leaves are supposed to release tannin, which helps to keep the cucumbers crisp and crunchy plus when they are stuffed into the top of the jar they stop herbs etc from rising up and floating on top of the brine.
I make the brine out of natural sea salt and spring water at a ratio of 1 tablespoon of salt per 1 cup of water. It sounds like a lot of salt but it is about right and certainly worked perfectly for my pickled mixed vegetables.
On top of the grape leaves I placed two smooth river rocks (I boiled and cleaned them) and this is to keep everything under the brine, which is very important otherwise it could spoil.
I've never made fermented pickled cucumbers before so I'm not exactly sure how long it will take? Some say about 10 days but it could several weeks... we'll see hey.
Look at these little beauties!
Rubbed the spikes off the cucumbers and sliced the bigger ones into smaller pieces. There's a few West Indian cucumbers there also, plus the garlic and dill.
Grape leaves and rocks on top.
Making the brine and pour that over.
Now the wait begins for the fermentation process to do its thing - I'll probably test them in about 10 days time to see how they are tasting.