2 Videos | Photo: Dill Pickles Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 1/2 ounces pickling salt, approximately 1/2 cup
- 1 gallon filtered water
- 3 pounds pickling cucumbers, 4 to 6-inches long
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon dill seed
- 1 large bunch dill
Directions
Combine the salt and water in a pitcher and stir until the salt has dissolved.
Rinse the cucumbers thoroughly and snip off the blossom end stem. Set aside.
Place the peppercorns, pepper flakes, garlic, dill seed and fresh dill into a 1-gallon crock. Add the cucumbers to the crock on top of the aromatics. Pour the brine mixture over the cucumbers in order to completely cover. Pour the remaining water into a 1-gallon ziptop plastic bag and seal. Place the bag on top of the pickles making sure that all of them are completely submerged in the brine. Set in a cool, dry place.
Check the crock after 3 days. Fermentation has begun if you see bubbles rising to the top of the crock. After this, check the crock daily and skim off any scum that forms. If scum forms on the plastic bag, rinse it off and return to the top of the crock.
The fermentation is complete when the pickles taste sour and the bubbles have stopped rising; this should take approximately 6 to 7 days. Once this happens, cover the crock loosely and place in the refrigerator for 3 days, skimming daily or as needed. Store for up to 2 months in the refrigerator, skimming as needed. If the pickles should become soft or begin to take on an off odor, this is a sign of spoilage and they should be discarded.
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By tnwalker10
Elizabethton, TN
on February 23, 2013
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I've found that good brined pickles are a hit-and-miss project. Sometimes everything works and you have the best pickle ever. And sometimes it's a disaster. In 1989 my mom made the best batch ever. Since then, we've had good and bad. I think water, pickling temperature, freshness of cucumbers, growing season, and many other things decide wether your pickles are good or not.
Brined pickles are so good they're worth it to keep trying. They're just like fine wines, some years are better than others.
By laurenmsullivan
San Diego, CA
on December 11, 2012
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I made this recipe years ago as a refrigerator pickle, as he says in the episode that if you don't want to ferment your pickles, you can just make refrigerator dills instead. Well, at the time I was a college student, and didn't have a croc or a desire to ferment the pickles, but instead to make the juicy, crisp, fresh dills I ate out of my father's refrigerator every week growing up as a child.
Well this recipe is WAY too salty for refrigerator pickles. However, I was not to be stopped, and once I realized just how salty the recipe was, I remade the brine and tried again. They were fabulous! I can only imagine that all that salt is necessary for warding off bacteria in the croc. My notes for this recipe show that I made the 3 pounds of pickles, but decided only 3 oz of salt was necessary for the job. Try them as refrigerator dills with extra garlic and a little bit of vinegar. Delicious!
By gardendiva1
on October 13, 2012
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i absolutely love this recipe.added extra of all veggies...I like it hot and spicy! recipe was also very easy to make. adding water to bag to hold pickles down is an excellent tip.
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