Salt-Brined Cucumber Pickles
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Fermenting vegetables isn’t as technical as many fear. If you’re new to it, this recipe is just enough to give you a feel for the process. Have questions? Watch our video before you start!
Pickling cucumbers look like the cartoon version of cucumbers. They’re slightly curved with bumps along their sides. Use a widemouthed mason jar with a 4-cup capacity. Ensure the cucumbers stay submerged in the brine as they ferment by weighing them down. Stacking a few smaller lids inside the jar does the job.
Use a lid that allows gas to escape during fermentation, like a silicone airlock, or open the jar once a day to “burp” it.
When the jar smells pleasantly sour after 3 days and the pickles are tangy, they're ready to eat. For a stronger flavor, ferment them for up to a week. Store fermented pickles in the refrigerator.
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Directions
Have a clean 1 quart wide-mouthed mason jar with an airlock and a band to secure the airlock in place ready to go.
Arrange as many cucumbers as you can to stand up in the container. Slice any remaining cucumbers in half and stack them on top of the whole cucumbers to fit in the jar, pressing them below the shoulder of the jar. Add the garlic and dill, pressing the ingredients along the sides of the jar.
In a liquid measuring cup, stir water and salt together until the salt dissolves. Pour over the cucumbers. (It’s okay if you have extra. If you need more liquid, mix 1⁄2 cup water with 1 tsp salt and pour it in.) Top the cucumbers with a few stacked lids or a resealable plastic bag filled with water to keep them submerged. Place the airlock on top and secure it to the jar with the band.
Store in a cool area (between 60 and 75F) for 3 to 5 days, or until the cucumbers taste like pickles. By the third day, the brine will have turned cloudy and you may also see tiny bubbles rising to the top of the brine. Sediment may form at the base of the jar; that’s perfectly okay. For a more sour pickle, let the cucumbers continue to ferment, checking them and burping the jar daily, for up to 1 weeks. Fermented pickles keep in the refrigerator for 3 months.