24-Hour Half-Sour Dill Pickles
By Yankee Magazine|Aug 07 2014|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanThis recipe for half-sour dill pickles is so simple! Place pickling cucumbers in a jar, add the spices, then pour a vinegar-water-salt mixture over the top. Leave sealed for 24 hours and you’re done.
Yield:
about 3 dozen picklesIngredients
3 pounds (approx.) small pickling cucumbers, not peeled, well scrubbed
3 dill stalks
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon pickling spice
5 quarts water
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup salt
Instructions
For half-sour dill pickles, pack cucumbers into a sterilized 6-quart glass jar. Add dill stalks, garlic cloves, and pickling spice. Mix water, vinegar, and salt. Pour over cucumbers (leaving headspace) and seal. Leave at room temperature 1 day; then refrigerate. For sour dills, leave at room temperature 3-4 days; then refrigerate to keep crisp.
This is not an authentic half-sour pickle recipe. True half-sour (and true full sour kosher dill) pickles recipes NEVER contain vinegar. The cucumbers are allowed to ferment in a saltwater-only brine much the same way saurkraut and kimchi are made. It is the action of lactobacillus bacteria naturally found on the surface of the cucumbers that causes the sour flavor when given the right conditions.
Excellent advise Mark.That’s how my Russian grandmother used to make them.
Thank you, Mark. I wondered about that. The fantastic half sours at NY deli’s never taste of vinegar.