| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 10 days 15 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Inactive: | 10 days |
| Yield: | 3 pounds pickles |
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
Instructions
- 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.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 41 |
| Total Fat | 0 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 10 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 4 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Sodium | 2004 mg |
Reviews
Excellent!! Reminds me of the pickles my mother-in- law from Russia used to make!!!
I haven’t done these yet, but had a question before I started. Would this still work if you cut the cucumbers into spears? I have a lot of cucumbers in different sizes and I think cutting them would ferment them more evenly…?
Done these for a couple of years now. Always crazy good! But occasionally the fermentation process doesn’t happen as it should. That’s the risk of fermenting. It usual works, but sometimes it doesn’t . Just try again. Your patients will be rewarded.
just made this recipe – OMG the smell in my kitchen. I thought I was in a NY deli. Pickles came out great. The only addition I made was to add a bunch of garlic. WOW! Thanks Alton!
My pickles were hollow and limited taste
Best pickles ever!
I doubted this recipe since it had no vinegar but wanted to have some dill pickles so I tried a small amount. I guess I never knew dill pickles were tart because of being fermented. I tried them after 2 days. I smelled it not expecting much but they smelled like my favorite dills. The flavor is good and the pickles crispy! Delicious!!
I was very sad my hero would make this presenration…. Alton.. My hero.. You take kosher salt.. Peppercorn and minced garlic.. I use my 1 quart prepped container.. Then I add in white wine vinagar.. Chuck.. Yes I said chuck in the washed cleaned cuks.. Keep them in the coldest part of the refrig.. Stir them daily for a week.. And voila cukes that will cut paper thin for your sugar free coleslaw or potato sald.. That is my take.. But I’m just a pool guy.. Great on a hot day.. Love ya. Man
In the video Alton says to trim off the stem end, in the written recipe it says to trim off the blossom end….which end contains the enzyme that softens pickles??
I was really looking forward to these since I loved barrel pickles from the store when I was a kid. Unfortunately this was an epic fail. I followed the directions and it didn’t really bubble much and there was only a tiny bit of the white stuff to skim off on the first time I checked on them then none thereafter. When we tasted them they were sour and had a very odd and off taste. It was gross. Very sad that they didn’t come out well and not sure what went wrong.