Recipe: Making Genuine Dill Pickles

IT TOOK ME AWHILE BUT HERE IT IS:
Making Genuine Dill Pickles

Date: August 1987 (Revised April 1995)

Source: University of Wisconsin

The old-fashioned way of making dill pickles, fermenting cucumbers in a salt-brine, produces the
type of dill pickle commercial picklers call a "genuine dill pickle." While you preserve most other
kinds of pickles by using acetic acid present in vinegar, this type of dill pickle is preserved by lactic
acid produced during a fermentation process that takes place over several weeks.

Here's what happens. You place cucumbers in a glass or stoneware crock or heavy food-grade
plastic container. Cover with a salt brine that contains dill, garlic, spices and a little vinegar. The
cucumbers are weighted to keep them below the surface of the brine. Cover the container loosely
and allow it to stand at room temperature, preferably between 70 and 75 degrees F.

Natural sugars from the cucumbers begin to go into the brine where salt-tolerant lactic acid bacteria
cause natural fermentation. The amount of salt in the brine is very important if fermentation is to go
well.

Too little salt lets undesirable bacteria grow rapidly. Too much salt slows down the fermentation
process. Yeast and molds can grow on the surface of the brine where air is present, so you need to
skim off any surface scum each day. If you don't, the vegetables may soften, develop off-flavors and
spoil.

Place thoroughly washed cucumbers in a clean five gallon non-metallic, food grade plastic,
crockery, or glass container and cover with the brine. Use a plate and a weight, or a food grade
plastic bag containing 4 1/2 tablespoons salt and 3 quarts water to keep the cucumbers below the
surface of the brine.

After about three weeks, the cucumber flesh will become a translucent olive green. At this point,
you can pack the pickles in clean jars. Cover with boiling hot brine that they were fermented in, and
process pint jars for 10 minutes and quart jars for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath canner, if you
live at altitudes below 1,000 feet. This stops the fermentation and lets you store the pickles at room
temperature without risk of spoilage.

If you have further questions, please contact your county office of the NDSU Extension Service.

ENJOY!!! :) IF I SEE ANY MORE I'LL POST THEM.
LINDA