Kosher full sour garlic pickles - in about 7-9 days


 
Brett-EDH

Brett-EDH

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Jewish New Year is coming up and I’m planning on smoking a brisket because the last smoked brisket was so dang good off the E6.

So what better way to enhance a brisket experience than with NY garlic full sour pickles?

Winco had some decent Cirby cukes yesterday so I went to work on them this morning.

Rinsed clean the cukes, placed them in a full ice bath for 2 hours. This enables them to really firm up as the cukes absorb the cold water and become real hard which helps make a better ferment over the coming days.

Placed the cukes in a non-reactive bowl and added in 5 crushed garlic cloves, 3 crumpled bay leaves, a few black peppercorns, 3 arbols, and a pinch of pickling spices.

Then I mixed up 1000 ml cold water and then added 3.3% weight in brining salt 33 ml increase on the scale. Mixed the salted water with a wooden spoon.

Then poured the salted water over the cukes, and made a sandwich ziploc with the remaining water so to ensure the cukes are fully submerged.

Covered the Rubbermaid with a vented lid so the countertop ferment can begin.

Inside home temps are 79° right now and might go as low as 74°.

In 5-6 days these will be half sours. Add another 4-5 atop that and we’ll get to full sours. And these will be nice and garlicky as designed.

So, here’s the first pics of a project that just requires monitoring. The reward will hopefully exceed the time in 2 weeks!

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The brine will develop a whitish tinge over the fermenting period. This is a natural fermentation process. No vinegar, sugar or heat is used in making these pickles.
 
Day 4

We are onto something real good here. As I usually do, I put a larger container under the pickling container to catch any brine overflow because we’re at that phase, where the pickling jar needs burping.

So a little of the brine went into the catch container and like a good chef, I tasted it for flavor profile and accuracy.

I am reporting that the flavors, salinity and garlic levels are spot on perfect.

Todays pics for your visual viewing

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The catch container for brine overflows

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Brett-EDH said:
Jewish New Year is coming up and I’m planning on smoking a brisket because the last smoked brisket was so dang good off the E6.

So what better way to enhance a brisket experience than with NY garlic full sour pickles?

Winco had some decent Cirby cukes yesterday so I went to work on them this morning.

Rinsed clean the cukes, placed them in a full ice bath for 2 hours. This enables them to really firm up as the cukes absorb the cold water and become real hard which helps make a better ferment over the coming days.

Placed the cukes in a non-reactive bowl and added in 5 crushed garlic cloves, 3 crumpled bay leaves, a few black peppercorns, 3 arbols, and a pinch of pickling spices.

Then I mixed up 1000 ml cold water and then added 3.3% weight in brining salt 33 ml increase on the scale. Mixed the salted water with a wooden spoon.

Then poured the salted water over the cukes, and made a sandwich ziploc with the remaining water so to ensure the cukes are fully submerged.

Covered the Rubbermaid with a vented lid so the countertop ferment can begin.

Inside home temps are 79° right now and might go as low as 74°.

In 5-6 days these will be half sours. Add another 4-5 atop that and we’ll get to full sours. And these will be nice and garlicky as designed.

So, here’s the first pics of a project that just requires monitoring. The reward will hopefully exceed the time in 2 weeks!

View attachment 58744

View attachment 58745

View attachment 58746

The brine will develop a whitish tinge over the fermenting period. This is a natural fermentation process. No vinegar, sugar or heat is used in making these pickles.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for the tip about the ice water soak, this is the missing X factor. Mine were good flavorwise, but never great otherwise.
 
Loc said:
Thanks a lot for the tip about the ice water soak, this is the missing X factor. Mine were good flavorwise, but never great otherwise.
Click to expand...
Let me know how your next batch goes when you do the cold bath soak. Without it, I was battling soggy and squishy pickles. This week here has been hot indoors so I think I’ve accelerated my pickling some. I’ll know more tomorrow as I might pull a donor pickle to test, or at least by Friday.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Let me know how your next batch goes when you do the cold bath soak. Without it, I was battling soggy and squishy pickles. This week here has been hot indoors so I think I’ve accelerated my pickling some. I’ll know more tomorrow as I might pull a donor pickle to test, or at least by Friday.
Click to expand...
I’ll have to wait until temp drops to attempt another batch myself, although I may have already missed the season to buy good pickling cukes. Last uear, we had to relo jar from kitchen to our more cool bedroom. Gurgling kept waking me up.
 
I need to get motivated to do this. I was very happy with the fresh pickles from Trader Joes as they taste just like the ones I used to get from a pickle barrel at a store in the Bronx when we visited my grandmother. We don't live by a TJ's any more but do have a farmer's market with a pickle stand. I haven't found the same ones but they do make a really good sweet and hot Siracha ones. But that will stop next month. Too bad my wife does not like pickles.
 
Joe Anshien said:
I need to get motivated to do this. I was very happy with the fresh pickles from Trader Joes as they taste just like the ones I used to get from a pickle barrel at a store in the Bronx when we visited my grandmother. We don't live by a TJ's any more but do have a farmer's market with a pickle stand. I haven't found the same ones but they do make a really good sweet and hot Siracha ones. But that will stop next month. Too bad my wife does not like pickles.
Click to expand...
Joe, if you’re going to make a batch, choose Cirbys that are bumpy on the outside and not smooth. The smooth ones tend to be more mature and contain a lot of water in them. The flesh to water ratio is important to getting a firm pickle. And I try to choose ones that are consistent in size so the brining process is even across the batch. The TJs ones are good. We’ve bought them in the past.
 
I do similar to this as well........I thought using plastic was a no no.....
I use stone, but I am not sure if the plastic is a good option or not.....thought I read it somewhere.
They are looking pretty good........
 
Brett-EDH said:
Jewish New Year is coming up and I’m planning on smoking a brisket because the last smoked brisket was so dang good off the E6.

So what better way to enhance a brisket experience than with NY garlic full sour pickles?

Winco had some decent Cirby cukes yesterday so I went to work on them this morning.

Rinsed clean the cukes, placed them in a full ice bath for 2 hours. This enables them to really firm up as the cukes absorb the cold water and become real hard which helps make a better ferment over the coming days.

Placed the cukes in a non-reactive bowl and added in 5 crushed garlic cloves, 3 crumpled bay leaves, a few black peppercorns, 3 arbols, and a pinch of pickling spices.

Then I mixed up 1000 ml cold water and then added 3.3% weight in brining salt 33 ml increase on the scale. Mixed the salted water with a wooden spoon.

Then poured the salted water over the cukes, and made a sandwich ziploc with the remaining water so to ensure the cukes are fully submerged.

Covered the Rubbermaid with a vented lid so the countertop ferment can begin.

Inside home temps are 79° right now and might go as low as 74°.

In 5-6 days these will be half sours. Add another 4-5 atop that and we’ll get to full sours. And these will be nice and garlicky as designed.

So, here’s the first pics of a project that just requires monitoring. The reward will hopefully exceed the time in 2 weeks!

View attachment 58744

View attachment 58745

View attachment 58746

The brine will develop a whitish tinge over the fermenting period. This is a natural fermentation process. No vinegar, sugar or heat is used in making these pickles.
Click to expand...
These look too good not to give them a try!
 
Darryl - swazies said:
I do similar to this as well........I thought using plastic was a no no.....
I use stone, but I am not sure if the plastic is a good option or not.....thought I read it somewhere.
They are looking pretty good........
Click to expand...
Plastic barrels are the standard for large production of sour pickles. Non reactive and can be sanitized between batches.
 
Day 5

The smell is intoxicating. I snuck a teaspoon of the brine and these are good, real good.

3.3% salinity is just about perfect. That balance of salt and sweet from the cukes. Not sweet as in sugar, but the balance of the fruit and the brine.

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A little top down action photo

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