Fermented Dill Pickle Spears by the Jar

My “How to make Fermented Pickles” is one of my most popular recipes so I want to share with you a different, easier way to make crispy fermented pickles: by the quart jar. I started making mine this way when I planted fewer cucumber plants one year and I was forced to make my fermented pickles in smaller batches. I know technically mine are halves pictured here and you can go either way; either spears or halves depending on the size of your cucumbers.

It’s certainly not to say you can’t make small batches of fermented pickles in a crock but this method of fermenting them by the jar is faster and requires less maintenance and I think we’re all on board for that.

This method of fermenting by the jar also doesn’t require any fancy equipment, such as a pickling crock. All you need besides cucumbers are a quart jar, some garlic, spices, and distilled water and even some of these things can be changed up and/or omitted. I’ll talk about these options after the post in the “options” section.

As always when fermenting food, you want to start with clean, clean, clean veggies, containers, and utensils. I don’t go so far as to sterilize my jar or any of the utensils but I do make sure everything is clean and dry before starting.

How to make Fermented Pickles by the Jar Recipe

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon pink Himalayan sea salt
• 3-4 Garlic cloves, gently crushed – you just want to break the clove open, not break it into pieces
• 2 teaspoons dried dill seeds
• 1 teaspoon pickling spice
• Distilled water
• Cucumbers, ends trimmed and discarded (preferably composted). Ideally, these should be the pickling variety, halved if they’re thinner cucumbers or cut into spears if they’re large.

Directions

• Place salt, garlic, dill seed, and pickling spice in a clean quart jar.
• Add 1/2 cup of the distilled water, cover, and swish around a few times to release some of the flavors of the garlic juice and spices.
• Fill the jar with cucumber halves or spears, packing them in as much as possible – this helps prevent them from floating up to the top as they ferment.
• Once all of the cucumbers are packed in, fill the jar the rest of the way with distilled water so that the cucumbers are fully submerged, leaving about 1/2 inch headspace at the top.
• Some of the spices will float to the top and that’s okay.

• Cover the jar with either a piece of cheesecloth or even a paper towel and secure with twine or a rubber band.
• Let sit, undisturbed, for 24 hours.
• Remove the cover and check the progress. You should see some foam starting to foam at the top. Between days 1 and 2, your pickles should start clouding up and some serious foam action should be happening on top, like this the photo below.
• I typically let mine go for 3 days but that can vary due to a number of reasons which I list below.
• Once they’ve reached the crispiness and flavor you’re looking for, cover them and place them in the refrigerator. Refrigeration doesn’t completely stop the fermentation process but it does slow it down considerably.

You can start taste testing on day 2 if you’ve got sufficient foam and cloudiness. A number of things can factor into how long they need to ferment, the first and foremost being how you want them to taste. These are a few things that can affect the fermentation time:

• Temperature: fermentation will happen faster in warmer temperatures
• Size of cucumber halves or spears: the thinner they are, the faster they’ll ferment
• Type of cucumber: even pickling cucumbers can vary in water content

Options

As I mentioned early in this post, there are a number of options here that you can use and/or omit in this recipe:

• You can try using well or tap water but I don’t recommend it. If you have a way to filter it, you definitely should do so but I still have always had the best, most consistent results with using filtered water.
• Salt: I’ve gotten to where I like pink Himalayan sea salt in these as the salty flavor isn’t so strong but you can use regular sea salt or pickling salt as well. Mostly, you just want to stay away from using any salt that’s iodized because iodine and fermentation don’t play well together.
• If you don’t like garlic, omit it altogether.
• If you want more or less garlic, adjust it to your taste.
• I use pickling spice for this as it makes it fast and easy but if you prefer you can add your own spices individually.
• I like just a teaspoon in this recipe but my husband prefers these made with 2 teaspoons; you may have to play around with a couple of batches to discover the flavor you like best.
• You can make these with whole cucumbers if you prefer, the fermenting time will just be a bit longer. The beauty of spears and halves is they’re easier to taste test along the way.

These are so, so good! I doubt by now I need to tell you how great fermented foods are for you but it’s always worth remembering. I still ferment pickles in larger quantities in my crock when I have an overload of cucumbers but this is always my go-to when just a small batch is needed.

Hopefully, I’ve not missed anything but please comment if you have any questions. Once you’ve tried these quick and easy, crispy fermented pickles by the jar you may never go back to buying store-bought pickles again!

Enjoy!