Making Pickled Cucumbers

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.