Brined - United States
Fermented dill pickles, USDA home method
A brined cucumber pickle in household quantities, with the one instruction most written recipes leave out: cut the blossom end off. The enzyme that softens a whole crock of pickles is concentrated there.
9 steps, every one quoted from USDA/NCHFP Dill Pickles. The step labels are this site's; the sentences under them are not.
The source's own warning
Caution: If the pickles become soft, slimy, or develop a disagreeable odor, discard them.
USDA/NCHFP, Dill Pickles.
Ingredients
Use the following quantities for each gallon capcity of your container.
- 4 lbs of 4-inch pickling cucumbers
- 2 tbsp dill seed or 4 to 5 heads fresh or dry dill weed
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1/4 cup vinegar (5 percent)
- 8 cups water and one or more of the following ingredients:
- 2 cloves garlic (optional)
- 2 dried red peppers (optional)
- 2 tsp whole mixed pickling spices (optional)
Quoted from USDA/NCHFP, unaltered.
The ratio, as the source wrote it
4 lbs of 4-inch pickling cucumbers, 1/2 cup salt, 1/4 cup 5 percent vinegar, 8 cups water
Use the following quantities for each gallon capcity of your container.
Left as a ratio rather than converted to a percentage, and not scaled into a table. It multiplies straight up or down, but the sentence carrying the figure often carries a condition with it, and separating the two is how a number arrives here looking more certain than its source made it.
Every number the source states
- Per gallon of container capacity
- 4 lbs of 4-inch pickling cucumbers, 1/2 cup salt, 1/4 cup 5 percent vinegar, 8 cups water
- Recommended fermentation temperature
- 70 to 75°F
- Above which the pickles go too soft
- 80°F
- Time at 70 to 75 F
- about 3 to 4 weeks
- Time at 55 to 65 F
- 5 to 6 weeks
- Blossom end
- Cut off 1/16 inch and discard
- Storage of the finished ferment
- about 4 to 6 months refrigerated, with scum and mould removed regularly
Use the following quantities for each gallon capcity of your container.
Store where temperature is between 70°F and 75°F for about 3 to 4 weeks while fermenting.
Avoid temperatures above 80°F, or pickles will become too soft during fermentation.
Store where temperature is between 70°F and 75°F for about 3 to 4 weeks while fermenting.
Temperatures of 55° to 65°F are acceptable, but the fermentation will take 5 to 6 weeks.
Cut 1/16-inch slice off blossom end and discard.
Fully fermented pickles may be stored in the original container for about 4 to 6 months, provided they are refrigerated and surface scum and molds are removed regularly.
Method
Numbered for your place in the list. Every sentence below is the source's own, verified against the page it came from when this table was last built from the sources.
Wash
Wash cucumbers.
Cut the blossom end
Cut 1/16-inch slice off blossom end and discard. Leave 1/4-inch of stem attached.
Lay the aromatics
Place half of dill and spices on bottom of a clean, suitable container.
Pack
Add cucumbers, remaining dill, and spices.
Make the brine
Dissolve salt in vinegar and water and pour over cucumbers.
Cover and weight
Add suitable cover and weight.
Ferment
Store where temperature is between 70°F and 75°F for about 3 to 4 weeks while fermenting.
Tend it
Check the container several times a week and promptly remove surface scum or mold.
Store
Fully fermented pickles may be stored in the original container for about 4 to 6 months, provided they are refrigerated and surface scum and molds are removed regularly.
What else the source says
- The cooler end of the band
- Temperatures of 55° to 65°F are acceptable, but the fermentation will take 5 to 6 weeks.
- The warm end
- Avoid temperatures above 80°F, or pickles will become too soft during fermentation.
Before you make this
This site is a reference and not a food safety authority. It reports what named sources published and does not certify that any preparation is safe. The safety page sets out what the sources themselves say about acidity, about surface growth and about when to throw something away, and equipment lists the instruments the numbers above cannot be checked without.
The full record for this pickle, including every source consulted and the ones that disagree, is on its tradition page.
Other brined recipes
- Green mango pickle
- Lime pickle, brined
- Black olives
- Brined vegetables, the general method
- Green olives, Spanish style
- Kanji
- Kimchi
- Brined cucumber pickles
Method and asides from USDA/NCHFP National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia, adapted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, revised 2015. Numbers from the same source, extracted separately and listed on methodology.