How To Make Old-Fashioned Crunchy Fermented Garlic-Dill Pickles In A 1-Gallon Stoneware Crock

Hey there .

I'm wary from traditional cooking school and I'm the author of the complete Idiot's guide to fermenting foods .

One of my favorite ferments are pickles .

These are beautiful garlic dill pickles and they are so easy to make at home .

These are not your regular vinegar .

Pickles you'll find in the grocery store .

These are fermented with salt and once pickled , there's an explosion of vitamins , enzymes , probiotics , beneficial acids , but most importantly , a delicious crunch .

These are so good .

They're really easy to make .

So let's get in the kitchen and I'll show you how to do it .

Cucumbers .

They should be pickling cucumbers ideally , but otherwise thin skinned cucumbers like Mediterranean cucumbers , put them cold water for 10 to 30 minutes to crisp them up .

I need enough to fill the Ohio stoneware gallon size fermenting crock , make your brine .

Combine half gallon of good filtered water with six tablespoons of unrefined sea salt stir well to dissolve the salt , then cut the ends off each cucumber and put them in a bowl .

Also have ready .

12 cloves peeled garlic , four teaspoons , dill seed and one teaspoon black tea leaves the tannins in the black tea help the pickles stay crisp .

You can also use oak leaves , start packing the croc with cucumbers every so often .

Sprinkle in some dill seeds , a few cloves of garlic and some black tea .

Keep packing the cucumbers .

Stopping to Sprinkle more of the other ingredients along the way .

When the croc is full to within 3 to 4 inches of the top .

Stop adding re pour the brine over all of it .

So the cucumbers are submerged , place the stone weights on top , they will make sure the cucumbers stay below the surface of the brine , which is really important .

So your pickles turn out , add the lid of the croc and now you'll leave the cucumbers to ferment at room temperature for 3 to 7 days because my cucumbers were larger and the house is cooler right now .

I let mine ferment for 4 to 5 days on this batch .

When they are done , remove the lid and plates , it is completely normal to see bubbles at the top and also for the brine to get cloudy .

Try out your pickles , taste them .

They should be crunchy and salty .

They may not be fully pickled through the entire cucumber , but that's ok .

Transfer to a gallon size glass jar and store in the fridge , you can eat them right away or let them age longer in the fridge .

So now you can see why this one gallon croc from Ohio .

Stoneware is one of my favorite kitchen tools pickles , sauerkraut , kimchi , all kinds of fermented goodies come out of this .

So I highly recommend it .

You got to get one .

If you like this , then be sure to grab my free fermenting formulas cheat sheet .

It's a gift for you where I share formulas for all kinds of ferments , beverages and salsa and kraut and pickles and relish .

Oh yes .

So you can create your own safe to eat delicious yummy , healthy fermented foods .

Go to trad cooks school dot com slash pickles to grab it .

Thanks for joining me , everyone .

Happy fermenting .