This is a lacto-fermentated pickle that we love and it keeps refrigerated for months, if you can keep from eatting them all.
The recipe is from
Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions"
I make these every few days...here' s a walk through.
They are made in wide mouth quart jars. First I go to the garden and cut some dill flowers and leaves then three or four suyo long cucumbers. Chop the dill into the jar add a couple peeled smashed cloves of garlic then slice the cucumbers into the jar about quarter inch slices. press down ligntly fill just below one inch from top of jar.
in another glass container mix 1 Tablespoon sea salt, 4 Tablespoons good whey ( I have a friend who makes goat cheese ...if you can't get whey you need to use 2 Tablespoons sea salt) and one cup filtered
water. mix until the salt dissolves and pour over cucumber slices to cover to one inch below top of the jar. add more filtered water if you need to.
The lid I use is one of the plastic widemouth lids sold with canning stuff and I line it with a real canning tip and screw it on really tight .
"Lacto-fermentation is an anaerobic process and the presence of oxygen, once fermentation has begun, will ruin the final product"
I tighten well
enough to be able to invert the jar for a few hours if it later looks like something is floating. Dont open it for two days. I write the day and the time on each jar...leaving it too long will ruin them.
The flavor is amazing and I used to make brined whole dills (these are better and so much easier)...This book is probably worth having or at least you could read the part on lacto fermentation.. Let me know if you have any questions. I would really try to use whey...active not pasterized...the extra salt works but not as reliably and they are saltier of
course.
just to be clearer...
with whey use one Tbs sea salt/ four Tbs whey/one cup filtered water
no whey...use two Tbs sea salt/one cup filtered water
my house is slightly cooler than outdoors (pretty warm). I know they take longer at cooler temperatures but I have not had that
experience. I cover them with a dark cloth to keep out the light.
and open the jar after two days and taste them...I keep a gallon lidded jar in the refrigerator to pour them into.
I use the same recipe for green
tomato wedges but I dont know about peppers...the book has a red pepper ferment that I havent tried and a red tomato relish that is really good.
I hope this is the last edit...I keep finding typos.