Easy Lacto-Fermented Garlic & Dill Pickles
It’s hard to beat pickles for a delicious, healthy, and kid-friendly snack. Sour, tangy, and bursting with beneficial probiotics, these pickles are an easy and yummy way to incorporate more fermented foods into your family’s diet. Serve alongside pork carnitas, slice and add to salads, or eat by themselves for a nutritious midday snack!
Soaking the cucumbers in an ice bath prior to fermenting helps them maintain a crunchy texture. I use juice from a mature batch of my Lacto-Fermented Red Sauerkraut to culture these pickles, but you can also use whey or the juice from another fermented vegetable recipe as your starter liquid.
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Easy Lacto-Fermented Garlic & Dill Pickles
Equipment
Ingredients
- 18-20 bush cucumbers pickle-sized (3-4 inches long)
- 1 bulb fresh garlic
- 1 bunch fresh dill
- 3 tbsp mature sauerkraut juice can also use whey or juice from another vegetable ferment
- mineral salt
- filtered water
Instructions
- Assemble equipment and ingredients.
- Wash cucumbers, then place in a medium bowl and cover with ice and filtered water for approximately 10-15 minutes.
- Carefully fill each jar with 5-7 cucumbers.
- Separate fresh dill into thirds and pack each third into each jar.
- Peel garlic. Add 4-5 peeled garlic cloves per jar.
- Add 1 tbsp of mineral salt per jar.
- Use tablespoon to remove juice from mature, red sauerkraut.
- Add 1 tbsp of red sauerkraut juice to each jar.
- Fill each jar with filtered water.
- Place a fermenting weight on top of each filled jar.
- Add fermenting lids, then store in a cool, dark place for 5-7 days.
Notes
We are not huge fans of pickling spice, but feel free to add peppercorns, fennel, coriander, allspice, bay leaves, fennel or dill seeds as you like! Be creative, have fun, and enlist the kids for help! You can even turn it into a mini-lesson on beneficial micro-organisms and gut health 🙂
Have you ever made your own pickles? Are your kids cucumber fans? Leave a comment and share below!
