I have been pickling veggies the lactobacillus way for a year now.
Fellow gourmand Kaeti Humphrey sent me the invitation to Picklefest 2008 at the Machine Project, a gallery in Echo Park and, of course, I jumped on it.
I arrived about 3pm on a fine Saturday afternoon to find a room full of fellow picklers toiling away. I brought in my materials bag and got oriented.
There were two long tables with both sides occupied. People were working away with cabbages, ridged cucumbers and all manner of veggies. At the back there were boxes full of the Mason jars we were going to use. At the front there was a cooler with spring water and containers of natural salt. It should be iodine free.
So I found a spot and, squeezing in, started my preparations. I had brought with me the following:
Some Persian mini-cucumbers with smooth skin, some Swiss chard and some baby carrots. This was the mix that ended up in the jar, with the Swiss chard being reduced to the stems only.
I didn’t have much to do: I partially peeled the cucumbers because that’s the way I like to treat them, trimmed off the carrots and separated the chard stalks from the leaves. I took one of the quart-sized mason jars and arranged the vegetables inside. I filled the jar till the water came over the veggies and then added salt. I didn’t measure it exactly but used two handfuls. The brine came out salty enough but not too salty. It was beginner’s luck. Putting the cap on the jar I upturned it a few times and could see that all the salt had dissolved.Then I took the jar home and watched carefully as the vegetables became pickles. It was easy.
The useful tip I learned was to put some food wrap in a ball at the top of the jar. This was to keep the vegetables underneath the surface of the water. I quickly found out that any vegetables exposed to air will go rotten.
Lacto-bacillus fermentation is anaerobic. The fermentation takes place without oxygen.
What happens when food ferments? Well the bacteria lactobacillus which are found everywhere including in the human body convert starches in the food to lactic acid. Lactic acid is a preservative and also has a refreshing sour taste. The appetizing flavors of sour-dough bread and yogurt are due to lactic acid.
So as long as you have the naturally occurring bacteria and you don’t allow in other bacteria that might give off-flavors the process should work fine.
As the fermentation takes place the sugars in the vegetable break down. You’ll see that over time the cukes change in texture. The cucumbers shown above were fermented for 6 days in the summertime in Los Angeles ( room-temp). The carrots took longer to break down; 10 days. You can taste when the pickles are ready and then it’s time to refrigerate. Leave them too long and they won’t be good. Some develop soft spots. But on occasions- when I consider the pickle too mild- I have brought the jar back out into room temperature and given them an extra two days. It increased the acidity and savor.
This fermentation is what produces two other famous pickled products: sauerkraut and kim-chee.
So my recipe goes like this:
2lb of Persian cucumbers
2 serrano chillies
2 peeled cloves of garlic
2 large handfuls dill weed
Salt……about 3-4 Tbs
Spring water to cover
Semi-peel the cukes. Its a zebra-stripe pattern down the cukes! It works!
Put them in the jar with the halved chillies, garlic and dill weed. Best prepare the brine outside the jar and then pour it on. You can warm the water a little if you like. Cover the little green fellows carefully with the brine. As mentioned a ball of film or a folded baggie on top will keep the veg under the surface which is most important.
I put the pickle bottle somewhere convenient then turn it every day and have a look. If it's working a slight white scum will form. Check the pickles every day and taste when there’s very little of the original light green color left. They should be tasty, salty but with a good acidity. They should have an even dark green shade.
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