Pickles

One thing our garden has been producing is cucumbers. Unfortunately, I haven't caught them at the baby size I want them to be and I end up with some big guys. Cucumber salad is well and good, but I want pickles! 

I found a pickle recipe from Sandor Katz using a brine to ferment them, ready in three days or up to a week. 

He says to keep your cucumbers in a bowl of water in the fridge so they stay crisp until you have enough for the recipe. 

To ensure crispy pickles, add grape leaves or oak leaves or raspberry leaves; all of them have natural tannins. We had some raspberry leaves available so that's what I used. 

I should've followed the recipe more closely. 😅 Mine are not very flavorful. I didn't put enough garlic in (the heads I used were pretty small) for sure. I thought I had enough dill, but I used dried seeds from last year which must not have been enough. 

One thing I did do right was keep the jar on a tray so if it bubbled over, the shelf wouldn't get wet. You can see salt tracks from where the brine came up. 

I do like the pickle texture, and while the flavor is bland, they're okay. I'm supposed to move them into the fridge now that they're ready, but I don't think there's enough space! For now, they remain on the counter.