I am a declared pickles fan and I would do anything for a bowl of pickles, even as a snack 🙂 I am a fortunate daughter who benefits of a mom’s winter pickles. I always has a jar ready in the fridge, except for summertime, when we usually prepare the next batch for the winter. But this is the perfect time to have fun in the sun, specially with one-two jars of pickles ready in 3 days! Check it out!
Summer Sun Pickles
Servings: 2 jars
Equipment
- 2 medium glass jars (I used 2 jars of 1.7l each)
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg small to medium fresh cucumbers
- 2-3 green chilies optional
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 stems dry dill
- 2 flowers dry dill
- 4 stems dry thyme
- 50 g salt
- 2.5 l water
- 2 white bread slices
Instructions
- Start by washing the cucumbers thoroughly, drain them and then cut them in half length-wise almost all the way though starting from the flower end.
- Cut a small slice from the stem end and discard it – this will make the fermentation process go through the entire cucumber faster.
- Wash the dry herbs and cut in smaller chunks so that they fit your jars.
- Start arranging the cucumbers inside the jars alternating with the herbs and the chilies (optional).
- Peel the garlic cloves, cut them in halves and slid them between the cucumbers in the jar.
- Add the water to a medium pan and bring to boil. Add the salt and stir to completely dissolve it.Leave to boil for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to rest for 5 minutes until the water is not too hot anymore.
- Add the water on top of the cucumbers in the jar carefully.
- Leave to rest for 2 hours, then place the bread slices on top of the cucumbers. The resting time is important – if the water is too hot, the yeast from the bread slices will die and the fermentation won't start as intended.
- Move the jars into sunlight and place a small saucer or the jar's lid upside-down on top of the jar. This will protect the content from any dust or insects, while allowing the air to help the fermentation process. I put my jars on the window sill into direct afternoon sunlight.
- Remove the bread slices after one day, we need them to kick off the fermentation, that's all. A sign that will let you know that the fermentation started properly is the water inside the jar – it should be a little cloudy and not clear as it was a day before.
- Leave loosely covered in the sunlight for 2 more days.
- Uncover and taste the stem end from a cucumber. If it's pickled, move the jars inside, if not, leave one or two more days.
- You can store them in the fridge after removing the herbs from the jar and keeping the water.
Notes
- I find it useful to use jars that properly fit and don’t occupy too much space in my fridge, so that after the pickles are ready, I just move them to the fridge within the same container.
- We make the length-wise cut so that the fermentation gets inside the cucumbers faster.
- If you are using medium to large cucumbers, make an additional cut length-wise (basically as if you would cut them into quarters) almost all the way through.
- The fermentation time depends on factors like size of the cucumbers, the temperature and sun time. But from what I tried, normally, after 3 days, they are good to eat.
- If you have doubts that the jars are maybe too thin and the water might be too hot for them, place the jars over a metal spoon handle and gradually pour the water in the jar.
- Don’t skip the bread removal step, otherwise you will find yourself scooping out moldy bread 🙁
- You can keep the jars outside as well, there is no need to transfer them inside until the pickles are ready.
Hi there, I have read you should trim off the flower end of cukes so pickles are crisp vs mushy and soft. Another tip is all ingredients (especially the bread) must remain completely submerged under the liquid so mold doesn’t grow. Happy kitchen crafting!