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Making Genuine Dill Pickles

Source: University of Wisconsin

The old-fashioned way of making dill pickles, fermenting cucumbers in a salt-brine, produces the type of dill pickle commercial picklers call a "genuine dill pickle." While you preserve most other kinds of pickles by using acetic acid present in vinegar, this type of dill pickle is preserved by lactic acid produced during a fermentation process that takes place over several weeks.

Here's what happens. You place cucumbers in a glass or stoneware crock or heavy food-grade plastic container. Cover with a salt brine that contains dill, garlic, spices and a little vinegar. The cucumbers are weighted to keep them below the surface of the brine. Cover the container loosely and allow it to stand at room temperature, preferably between 70 and 75 degrees F.

Natural sugars from the cucumbers begin to go into the brine where salt-tolerant lactic acid bacteria cause natural fermentation. The amount of salt in the brine is very important if fermentation is to go well.

Too little salt lets undesirable bacteria grow rapidly. Too much salt slows down the fermentation process. Yeast and molds can grow on the surface of the brine where air is present, so you need to skim off any surface scum each day. If you don't, the vegetables may soften, develop off-flavors and spoil.

Place thoroughly washed cucumbers in a clean five gallon non-metallic, food grade plastic, crockery, or glass container and cover with the brine. Use a plate and a weight, or a food grade plastic bag containing 4 1/2 tablespoons salt and 3 quarts water to keep the cucumbers below the surface of the brine.

After about three weeks, the cucumber flesh will become a translucent olive green. At this point, you can pack the pickles in clean jars. Cover with boiling hot brine that they were fermented in, and process pint jars for 10 minutes and quart jars for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath canner, if you live at altitudes below 1,000 feet. This stops the fermentation and lets you store the pickles at room temperature without risk of spoilage.

If you have further questions, please contact your county office of the NDSU Extension Service.

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