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Lacto-Fermented Pickles

15 min + 3–7 days
fermented preserves vegan

Ingredients

  • — Cucumbers, enough to fill your jar
  • — 3% brine: 30g salt dissolved in 970g water (scale up to fill jar)
  • — 4 sprigs fresh dill
  • — 3 cloves garlic, diced
  • — 1 tsp caraway seeds
  • — 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • — 1 bay leaf

Instructions

  1. 1

    Sanitize your jar, lid, airlock, and any utensils thoroughly — rinse with boiling water or use a no-rinse sanitizer. Contamination is the main risk in fermentation.

  2. 2

    Dissolve 30g salt in 970g water to make the brine. Scale up proportionally if needed to fill your jar.

  3. 3

    Add dill, garlic, caraway, mustard seeds, and bay leaf to the bottom of the jar. Pack cucumbers in tightly on top — the tighter the pack, the less they float.

  4. 4

    Pour brine over until cucumbers are fully submerged. Leave about an inch of headspace. If cucumbers float, weigh them down with a small zip-lock bag filled with brine.

  5. 5

    Fit the jar with an airlock. Ferment at room temperature (65–75°F) away from direct sunlight.

  6. 6

    Start tasting after 3 days. They'll be mildly tangy; by day 5–7 they'll be fully sour. Refrigerate when they reach your preferred flavor — fermentation slows dramatically in the cold.

Notes