Right now we have nice sized pickling cucumbers ready for harvest each and every day. We've gotten nice rains and the cucumbers are crisp and refreshing. I like slicing them up after chilling them and just eating with a splash of vinegar and a little salt and black pepper. We also like to pickle them, but we do so using lacto-fermentation. It is so simple. We learned this method from the Weston A. Price Foundation, using Sally Fallon's
Nourishing Traditions cookbook.
We wash the cucumbers, slice them up, and pack them into a quart jar. On a side note, growing up I always heard that you should cut the ends off a cucumber and rub them against the cucumber to "take the bitterness out." I also heard that it takes the "fever" out of a cucumber. Has anyone heard of this? I need to ask my mom about this to get more information. First, how can rubbing the ends take bitterness out and how can a cucumber have a fever? Hmmmm.... Anyway, back to pickle making:
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Slicing up fresh cucumbers |
Other than cucumbers, the only ingredients that you need are 1 tablespoon salt, 4 tablespoons whey and filtered water. Whey is a by-product of making kefir (yogurt) and it is a natural preservative and is used as a starter culture for lacto-fermented vegetables such as cabbage (sauerkraut), carrots, beets, and of course, cucumbers. We keep a jar of whey in the fridge after making kefir for just this purpose.
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Whey & Salt |
Pour the salt and whey over the cucumbers that you've packed in the quart jar and then add water until you've covered the cucumbers.
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Adding all ingredients |
Believe it or not, that's all there is to it. Put the lid on and cover tightly and allow to sit at room temperature for 2 days before placing in the refrigerator. We normally wait a couple of weeks before eating.
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Sitting at room temperature |
Back in the old days, people used this method of preserving things. They didn't have the luxury of refrigerators or freezers or a canning machine. The lacto-fermented cucumbers are crisp and tangy and are cool, delicious and refreshing. They are less acidic than those pickled in vinegar. For some reason, they pair nicely with rice & gravy and meat. While the cucumber harvest keeps coming, we'll always have at least one jar of these in the fridge.
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