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Healthy Home Economist / Videos / Fermented Cucumbers: Healthy Pickles Recipe (+ Video)

Fermented Cucumbers: Healthy Pickles Recipe (+ Video)

by Sarah Pope / Updated: Nov 28, 2021 / Affiliate Links ✔

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Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • How to Make Healthy Probiotic Pickles
  • Fermented Cucumbers Recipe

How to make healthy probiotic pickles the old fashioned way by fermenting sliced cucumbers in water, sea salt and a culturing medium.

fermenting cucumber chips in a glass mason jar on wood plank

When my Australian husband first moved to the United States some years ago after we first got engaged, he commented that Americans must really love pickles. No matter where you go in the United States, deli sandwiches are almost invariably served with some sort of pickle on the side.

It’s true. Americans do love pickles. Sweet pickles, sour pickles, dill pickles, it doesn’t seem to really matter what type – Americans consider them an essential condiment, and the wide variety of pickles at the supermarket is a strong testament to this fact.

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The problem with store pickles is that they are for the most part a nutritionless addition to a meal.

The heat required to can pickles or seal and sterilize them in jars that can sit for months or even years on the supermarket shelf or in your pantry without going bad clinches that deal.   In short, they are pickled but not fermented.  Fermentation is the process whereby cucumbers are pickled without heat which adds beneficial enzymes, probiotics, and sometimes additional nutrients.

The traditional principles of fermentation can be applied to cucumbers just the same as it can to other foods like beets, apricots, tomatoes, and cabbage all of which have been the subject of previous video lessons demonstrating the health building wonders of fermentation.

Why has it taken me so long to do a video lesson on fermented cucumbers, aka real pickles, you might ask?  Given their tremendous popularity as a condiment, you would think pickles would have been one of the very first fermentation videos I would have filmed.

True all around, with one very big problem.  I’ve never been very good at fermented cucumbers. They always turned out soggy when I’ve made them in the past and who wants to eat soggy pickles?

But then, my friend Alex Lewin sent me a copy of his book Real Food Fermentation, and at last I learned the secret for keeping my fermented cucumbers nice and crisp as they transform into enzyme and probiotic packed pickles that easily beat any store versions in both taste and nutrition.

How to Make Healthy Probiotic Pickles

I asked Alex if I could film his fermented cucumbers, aka REAL pickes recipe as a video, and he graciously said yes, so at long last, The Healthy Home Economist does pickles!

The recipe below includes this video demonstration. If you are a more visual learner, hopefully this will give you an idea of how to make fermented cucumbers at home very easily!

fermented pickles in a glass jar with lid
4.67 from 3 votes
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Fermented Cucumbers Recipe

Recipe to culture sliced cucumbers into probiotic fermented pickles that are crisp, tasty, and healthy.

Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword cultured, fermented, healthy, probiotic
Prep Time 10 minutes
Servings 2 quarts
Calories 12 kcal
Author Sarah Pope

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs cucumbers preferably organic, sliced across into 1/4″ pieces, cut off and discard the blossom end
  • 1 quart filtered water
  • 1/2 cup sauerkraut juice
  • 2 Tbl sea salt
  • 3-4 fresh oak leaves
  • 3-5 garlic cloves peeled, preferably organic, optional
  • 3-5 dried bay leaves preferably organic, optional

Instructions

  1. Slice cucumbers and set aside. Be sure to discard the slice with the blossom end as this is where enzymes are located that can contribute to soggy pickles.

  2. Place garlic cloves, dried bay leaves, and fresh oak, bay or grape leaves at the bottom of a clean 1/2 gallon mason jar.

  3. Place sliced cucumbers on top of seasonings. Mix sea salt, liquid whey or sauerkraut juice with the quart of water (or a water/vinegar mixture if you prefer a more vinegar flavor to your pickles) into the fermentation brine water and carefully pour over the top of the cucumbers.

  4. Leave about an inch at the top of the jar and screw on the lid. Add optional fermentation weight to keep cucumbers beneath the surface of the water. This will help prevent mold. I just use a smooth stone from my yard that I sterilized in hot water.

  5. Leave fermented cucumbers on the counter for 2 days. After 2 days, remove one cucumber slice with a clean fork and taste. If it is crunchy and pleasantly sour, then refrigerate. Your pickles are done. If not, leave on the counter for another day, tasting each additional day to determine when the pickles taste pleasantly sour and are yet are still crunchy.

  6. If a small bit of of foamy bubbles is on top of the brine water, it’s not a problem. Just remove it and refrigerate. If there is a lot of mold with long tendrils down into the water, the batch has not taken properly. Discard and try again using more starter and/or vinegar with your next batch and/or a fermentation weight as a preventative.

  7. Properly cultured cucumbers, aka probiotic pickles, will last several months in the refrigerator.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

1 pint filtered water and 1 pint organic apple cider vinegar that has been boiled and cooled may be substituted for the quart of filtered water. This will result in a more commercial taste to the healthy pickles.

1/2 cup liquid whey may be substituted for the raw sauerkraut juice.

Fresh bay or grape leaves may be substituted for the fresh oak leaves.

Nutrition Facts
Fermented Cucumbers Recipe
Amount Per Serving (4 pickle chips)
Calories 12
% Daily Value*
Carbohydrates 3g1%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Source

Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin

More Fermentation Recipes

How to Make Fermented Lemonade

How to Make Probiotic Sauerkraut

Beet Kvass Recipe

How to Make Orangina

Mango Chutney Recipe

How to Make Probiotic Apricot Butter

How to Make Fermented Cilantro Salsa 

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Category: Fermented Foods, Fermented Side Recipes, Videos
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her eBooks Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (80)

  1. Michelle

    Jun 2, 2019 at 7:50 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you for the recipe. I tried this recipe and it turned out to be delicious fermented cucumber. I have lots of the juice/liquid from this. Can I use the left over juice instead of sauerkraut juice for my next fermented cucumber?

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Jun 3, 2019 at 8:43 am

      Each recipe needs to be mixed fresh per the recipe above. That is how I always make it. Perhaps using the leftover whey/water mixture would work. If you try it, let us know how it turns out!

  2. Jason Commerford

    Oct 16, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    5 stars
    Is the addition of fresh Oak, Grape or Bay leaves absolutely necessary? Is there a satisfactory substitute?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Oct 16, 2018 at 4:31 pm

      Yes they are necessary otherwise you will end up with soggy pickles. I don’t know of another option besides those 3 types of leaves. Bay leaves are easy to find at the store … in the herbs and spices section.

  3. Marcia

    Sep 14, 2018 at 9:30 pm

    I think Kelsie refers to the
    “ Recipe Notes
    1 pint filtered water and 1 pint organic apple cider vinegar that has been boiled and cooled may be substituted for the quart of filtered water. This will result in a more commercial taste to the healthy pickles.”

    Reply
  4. Kelsie

    Sep 5, 2018 at 1:10 am

    Can you use an organic vinegar with the mother and not boil for added benefit? Or do you have to boil the vinegar either way?

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Sep 5, 2018 at 7:01 am

      Not sure what you are referring to about vinegar and boiling … this recipe does not use vinegar nor is it boiled.

  5. Nathan Pierce

    May 31, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    Could I use this same recipe for carrots and radishes in the same jar together?

    Reply
  6. Jess

    Sep 25, 2017 at 1:13 am

    Does it matter which type of Oak? There are so many.

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Sep 25, 2017 at 8:29 am

      I’ve tried several (I have a number of different types of oak trees in neighborhood. All work great!

  7. Michal

    Sep 4, 2017 at 6:55 am

    You can drink this liquid to clean up your digestive tract or get rid of hangover in 5 minutes. But use it wisely, too much (more than one glass) can cause immediate diarrhea 😉 I never heard about possibility of reusing this to make another one portion, though.

    Reply
  8. Michal

    Sep 4, 2017 at 6:51 am

    4 stars
    Or use blackcurrant / cherry leaves. They’re even better 🙂

    Reply
  9. elizabeth philpott

    Jul 13, 2017 at 11:24 am

    please help OAK LEAVES? like literally go out to the tree and get down some leaves? please reply? thanks, e

    Reply
    • Sarah

      Jul 13, 2017 at 11:42 am

      Yes, just go pick some. If you don’t have oak leaves in your area, the recipe specifies other alternatives 🙂

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