Fermented Dills Food

GRANDMA'S FERMENTED DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Trim the blossom ends off the cucumbers.
• Mix the icing solution using cold water, and let the cucumbers soak in the icing solution overnight (for 8 to 18 hours). Keep the cucumbers submerged in the icing solution by weighing them down with a dinner plate or bags of ice. If it's really warm in your house, stash them in the fridge for the icing.
• Once you've set up the cucumbers for icing, mix the pickling brine ingredients (vinegar, salt and water), bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Divide the hot brine between two sterilized 1-quart mason jars and allow to cool overnight.
• The next morning drain the cucumbers and pack them into the brine-filled mason jars, along with the dill, horseradish and mustard. Use a weight to keep the pickles below the brine and leave at least 1 inch of headroom at the top of the jar.
• Put a lid on the jar that will allow gas to escape while keeping out mould and other contaminates. (See the section above for different jar and lid options).
• Store the jar in a cool dark location.
• The pickles will bubble and ferment for 4-5 days, but leave them undisturbed until you are ready to eat them. Let them ferment for at least 1 month and up to a year.

FERMENTED KOSHER-STYLE DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Pour 1/2 gallon of water into a large container or pot. Cover loosely and allow to sit for 24 hour to allow dissolved chlorine to escape.
• Crisp cucumbers by storing in the refrigerator or soaking in very cold water for 1 hour.
• Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Add salt and stir to combine. Set aside to cool.
• Wash cucumbers in cold water and remove any blossoms that may be clinging to them. Quarter large cucumbers lengthwise. Cut medium cucumbers in half lengthwise. Leave gherkin-sized cucumbers whole.
• Peel and gently crush garlic cloves, but don't splinter them into fragments.
• Pour cooled salt water into a 1/2-gallon Mason jar. Add cucumbers, garlic, dill, and dried chile peppers, arranged attractively. Pack cucumbers tightly; they will shrink as they pickle. Fill the jar with the dechlorinated water until cucumbers are just covered to avoid overly diluting the brine.
• Loosely cover the jar and set aside at room temperature. Set the jar on a dish if it is very full, to catch any dribbles. Give the pickles 12 to 24 hours to begin fermenting. Refrigerate them, in brine and loosely covered, as they approach the stage of pickling you prefer: new, half-sour, or sour. Don't overshoot the mark, as refrigeration slows, but does not stop, fermentation.

FERMENTED DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Grape leaves keep the pickles crisp. Ask for them at a farmers' market, or as an alternative, add 1/2 teaspoon alum powder to each jar before filling.
• Sterilize the jars: Wash the jars, lids and bands in hot soapy water and rinse well. Place a canning rack or folded kitchen towel in the bottom of a stockpot and fill halfway with water. Add the jars, making sure they are submerged. Bring to a boil and boil 10 minutes. Remove with a jar lifter or tongs and place on a clean towel. Put the lids and bands in a saucepan of simmering water until ready to use.
• Make the brine: Combine 13 cups water with the pickling salt in a large pot and bring to a boil, whisking to dissolve the salt. Set aside.
• Fill the jars: In the bottom of each sterilized jar, add a layer of cabbage leaves, 1 garlic clove, 1 grape leaf, 2 chiles and a tuft of crown dill. Pack the jar with cucumbers, standing them upright and getting in as many as you can. Top each jar with another garlic clove, grape leaf, chile and tuft of crown dill.
• Add the brine: Ladle the hot brine into each jar (use a funnel if you have one), leaving 1/8 inch headspace. You may not need all of the brine.
• Close the jars: Wipe the jar rims with a cloth dipped in boiling water. Screw the sterilized lids on tight-as tight as you possibly can.
• Ferment the pickles: Once the jars cool, transfer them to a warm place (75 degrees For so) and let the pickles ferment 1 week. This is the warm jump-start period; the brine should get cloudy and the lid tops should become tight with pressure. Then transfer the jars to a cool, dark place and wait at least 6 weeks and up to6 months before eating.
• Be careful opening the jars-fermentation causes the brine to carbonate and it may spray. And don't worry if the garlic changes color; it's still edible.

UKRAINIAN DILLS FERMENTED NATURALLY

Steps:

• Soak (but do not scrub) cucumbers in very cold water for 5 minutes.
• Scald a very clean 1 gallon glass jar or crock with boiling water. Place a grape leaf at the bottom and arrange cucumbers vertically in layers, inserting garlic cloves and dill weed here and there. Do not pack tightly.
• Add salt to boiling water and stir. Pour brine over cucumbers and add peppercorns. (If not using leaves, add alum for added crispness.) I never do this, and they are always crisp, and I leave out grape leaves because I don't have any.
• Cover with leaves and a plate and place in a cool, dark place to ferment. I just cover with plate. In the old days, dry rusks of rye bread were put on top to aid the fermentation process and keep the cucumbers from floating up. This is a good idea.
• After 4 to 5 days, the cucumbers will be semi cured; some gourmets prefer them that way. After a few more days, fully cured pickles will become a lighter green.
• Pickles may be placed in smaller jars that are more convenient for storage. Scald 3 or 4 quart jars, pour off and strain pickling juice (discarding garlic and dill weed). Transfer pickles, fill quarts with strained liquid, cover, and refrigerate.
• The juice, or kvas, is never thrown out; it is used as a base for soups, borsch, or drunk cold as an eye-opener. Yummy!