**The Art of Making Pickles: A Step-by-Step Guide**
As we begin our journey to make pickles, it's essential to understand that this process requires patience and attention to detail. The key to creating delicious and tangy pickles lies in the preparation and care they receive during the fermentation process.
First, let's start with preparing the cucumbers. We'll be using three pounds of three to five-inch cubes under warm water while you're at it. Trimming off any unappealing parts into the stem is crucial as they contain an enzyme that can soften cucumbers. Time is of the essence, so make sure to brine and these amounts are important – five and a half ounces by weight of pickling salt goes into a one-gallon container. We're using filtered water, either through our own filtration system or bottled water, as chlorine will kill our little bacterial buddies here.
Now that we have our ingredients ready, it's time to add the flavorings. The most popular pickle flavor of all time has got to be dill, and it comes in two culinary forms: dill seed and fresh dill fronds. We'll use one teaspoon of dill seed, which will provide a subtle yet tangy flavor, as well as one large bunch of dill fronds for added depth and complexity. To take our pickles to the next level, we'll also add two crushed cloves of garlic and one tablespoon each of black peppercorns and red pepper flake to give them a nice kick.
With all our ingredients in place, it's time to build the crock. I don't want to just dump the cucumbers in, so I'm going to lay it on its side and arrange these vertically that'll ensure that each one gets its share of the flavor. Now, let's pour this onto your cucumbers until they float up to about two inches from the top of the crock – we want to leave enough room for expansion during fermentation.
We've got plenty of brine left over, which will be used as our lid – or weight – so to speak. You could use regular fresh water, but what if it were to spring a leak? You would be in trouble then because your brine would end up being too diluted. Make sure that this is good and sealed; you can throw away whatever brine you've got left there that goes on top.
Temperature is a big factor in fermentation – we don't want to let this get higher than say 75 degrees. The fermentation would still take place, but it would be really, really slow, which is not something we want to do. So, we're aiming for 68 to 70 degrees tops. If you don't have your own climate-controlled snazzy wine cooler like this, don't despair – just look for any clean spot in your house that will maintain that temperature.
**Monitoring the Fermentation Process**
Now that our crock is set up, it's time to think of this as your virtual pet. It does not need to be walked or talked to or scratched behind the ears, but it will need to be skimmed of scum each and every day – or at least every couple of days. Most of the scum will actually be on the bag itself, so carefully lift and just dunk that right into a vessel of clean water and it'll wash off.
Take a spoon and look around the edges, and just scrape off anything that kind of looks white and moldy – it's not actually mold at least it shouldn't be. Every now and then, it is usually just leftover stuff byproduct from the fermentation process if any of it gets down actually on the pickles try to get that off best you can there we go take a look at your bag make sure that it's relatively clean there we go.
**Finishing Touches**
Last step gonna wipe that down with a clean paper towel right along the edge, try not to let anything fall in – you're going to get a few of the herbs and that's okay. There we go! Take a look at your bag make sure that it's relatively clean there we go. Right back in place and make sure that you don't use tap water for that – tap water contains chlorine, and chlorine would be bad. Pickles should be mostly fermented in somewhere from six to ten days.
You'll know when mostly fermented has been reached because the bubbling will stop at that point. You've got some choices to make: you could move your pickles to the refrigerator, replace the bag with a loose cover like a plate and continue scumming occasionally for about three days – or keep them cold in the fridge.
If you choose to move them into a jar, strain the juice, add that cover it up keep it refrigerated. You'll keep them for up to two months if they last that long – if you know what I mean.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: encleanliness is next to pickleness so uh scrub three pounds of three to five inch cubes under warm water while you're at it trim off any uh into the stem uh they contain an enzyme that can soften cucumbers time to brine and these amounts are important five and one half ounces by weight of pickling salt goes into a one gallon container why because we're going to dissolve said salt in exactly one gallon of water now keep in mind that uh chlorine will kill our little bacterial buddies here so uh either use filtered water i have a filter on this system or you're gonna have to use bottled water do me a favor give that a stir every now and then now the most popular pickle flavor of all time has got to be dill and it comes in two culinary forms here we have a teaspoon of dill seed which we will use but we also have one large bunch of dill fronds now if we want to turn these into kosher dills we'll need to add garlic i have two crushed cloves here and i also like to add a little heat so one tablespoon each black peppercorns and red pepper flake now we're ready to build the crock i don't want to just dump the cucumbers in so i'm going to lay it on its side and arrange these vertically that'll ensure that each one gets its share of the flavor now just pour this onto your cucumbers until they float up to about two inches from the top of the crock you'll see some of the spices floating that's okay and we'll stop about there we've got plenty of brine left over and some of that is going to go into a zip top bag this is going to be our weight our lid so to speak you could do this with regular fresh water but what if it were to spring a leak you would be in trouble then because your brine would end up being too diluted so make sure that this is good and sealed you can throw away whatever brine you've got left there that goes on top and should hold everything down with a little room to spare temperature is a big factor in fermentation we don't want to let this get higher than say 75 degrees the fermentation would still take place but it would be really really slow which is not something we want to do so we're aiming for 68 to 70 degrees tops now if you do not have your own climate controlled snazzy wine cooler like this don't despair uh just look for any clean spot in your house that will maintain that temperature if it's a clean corner of your basement that's fine in the winter i've actually used my own garage and in the summer time when my air conditioning was broken i put my crock in a cooler that i just added some ice to every day or two to the cooler not to the crop that would be a bad thing so 68 70 degrees tops for three days three count them not two not four three i'll be back now from here on out think of this croc as your virtual pet it does not need to be walked or talked to or scratched behind the ears but it will need to be skimmed of scum each and every day or at least every couple of days now here's how i do it most of the scum will actually be on the bag itself so carefully lift and just dunk that right into a vessel of clean water and it'll wash off then take a spoon and look around the edges and just scrape off anything that kind of looks white and moldy it's not actually mold at least it shouldn't be every now and then it is usually it's just leftover stuff byproduct from the fermentation process if any of it gets down actually on the pickles try to get that off best you can there last step gonna wipe that down with a clean paper towel right along the edge try not to let anything fall in you're going to get a few of the herbs and that's okay there we go take a look at your bag make sure that it's relatively clean there we go and right back in place and make sure that you don't use tap water for that tap water contains chlorine and chlorine would be bad pickles should be mostly fermented in somewhere from six to ten days you'll know when mostly fermented has been reached because the bubbling will stop at that point you've got some choices to make you could move your pickles to the refrigerator uh replace the bag with a loose cover like a plate and continue uh scumming occasionally for about three days the cold will put the brakes on the fermentation and you'll have yourself a polish or hungarian dill pickle which is a very nice pickle indeed uh if you then move the pickles into a jar strain the juice and add that cover it keep it refrigerated you'll keep them for up to two months if they last that long if you know what i meancleanliness is next to pickleness so uh scrub three pounds of three to five inch cubes under warm water while you're at it trim off any uh into the stem uh they contain an enzyme that can soften cucumbers time to brine and these amounts are important five and one half ounces by weight of pickling salt goes into a one gallon container why because we're going to dissolve said salt in exactly one gallon of water now keep in mind that uh chlorine will kill our little bacterial buddies here so uh either use filtered water i have a filter on this system or you're gonna have to use bottled water do me a favor give that a stir every now and then now the most popular pickle flavor of all time has got to be dill and it comes in two culinary forms here we have a teaspoon of dill seed which we will use but we also have one large bunch of dill fronds now if we want to turn these into kosher dills we'll need to add garlic i have two crushed cloves here and i also like to add a little heat so one tablespoon each black peppercorns and red pepper flake now we're ready to build the crock i don't want to just dump the cucumbers in so i'm going to lay it on its side and arrange these vertically that'll ensure that each one gets its share of the flavor now just pour this onto your cucumbers until they float up to about two inches from the top of the crock you'll see some of the spices floating that's okay and we'll stop about there we've got plenty of brine left over and some of that is going to go into a zip top bag this is going to be our weight our lid so to speak you could do this with regular fresh water but what if it were to spring a leak you would be in trouble then because your brine would end up being too diluted so make sure that this is good and sealed you can throw away whatever brine you've got left there that goes on top and should hold everything down with a little room to spare temperature is a big factor in fermentation we don't want to let this get higher than say 75 degrees the fermentation would still take place but it would be really really slow which is not something we want to do so we're aiming for 68 to 70 degrees tops now if you do not have your own climate controlled snazzy wine cooler like this don't despair uh just look for any clean spot in your house that will maintain that temperature if it's a clean corner of your basement that's fine in the winter i've actually used my own garage and in the summer time when my air conditioning was broken i put my crock in a cooler that i just added some ice to every day or two to the cooler not to the crop that would be a bad thing so 68 70 degrees tops for three days three count them not two not four three i'll be back now from here on out think of this croc as your virtual pet it does not need to be walked or talked to or scratched behind the ears but it will need to be skimmed of scum each and every day or at least every couple of days now here's how i do it most of the scum will actually be on the bag itself so carefully lift and just dunk that right into a vessel of clean water and it'll wash off then take a spoon and look around the edges and just scrape off anything that kind of looks white and moldy it's not actually mold at least it shouldn't be every now and then it is usually it's just leftover stuff byproduct from the fermentation process if any of it gets down actually on the pickles try to get that off best you can there last step gonna wipe that down with a clean paper towel right along the edge try not to let anything fall in you're going to get a few of the herbs and that's okay there we go take a look at your bag make sure that it's relatively clean there we go and right back in place and make sure that you don't use tap water for that tap water contains chlorine and chlorine would be bad pickles should be mostly fermented in somewhere from six to ten days you'll know when mostly fermented has been reached because the bubbling will stop at that point you've got some choices to make you could move your pickles to the refrigerator uh replace the bag with a loose cover like a plate and continue uh scumming occasionally for about three days the cold will put the brakes on the fermentation and you'll have yourself a polish or hungarian dill pickle which is a very nice pickle indeed uh if you then move the pickles into a jar strain the juice and add that cover it keep it refrigerated you'll keep them for up to two months if they last that long if you know what i mean\n"
