Video How to make pickles with tea leaves

Fermented pickles are naturally preserved, deliciously tangy and probiotic. This is a great recipe to make in the summer months when the pickling cucumbers are in season. I will show you how to make crispy crunchy fermented cucumber pickles.

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Table of Contents

The Two Kinds of Pickles

In my pickle juice salad dressing recipe, I talked about the two kinds of pickles. To recap here:

The first one is the vinegar-based pickle most people are familiar with. Vinegar pickle is made by preserving cucumbers in a vinegar solution. The acidity of vinegar prevents bacteria growth and preserves the cucumbers. The majority of the grocery store pickles are vinegar pickles.

The second kind is fermented pickles, most commonly known as the Jewish kosher pickles. Fermented pickles are made by lacto-fermentation of the cucumbers in a salt brine. Salt helps to prevent the harmful bacteria from growing while allowing the beneficial lactic bacteria to develop and produce lactic acid. Then the lactic acid will preserve the cucumbers. You see during this process, we are also getting plenty of lactic bacteria in the pickle juice. The traditionally fermented pickles are considered probiotic because lactic bacteria is a friendly kind that also populates our digestive track.

Understanding Salt Brine

Making the correct salt brine is half of the tasks for a successful fermentation.

There are many kinds of salt on the market today. I use natural sea salt. You may also use other natural salts, such as Himalayan Pink Salt. Although not my top choice, some people use pickling salt or kosher salt with fine results. Generally iodized table salts are advised against, as the iodine is believed to affect bacteria growth.

After we select the correct salt to use, we need to be sure to use the right amount. Using too little salt, you have a higher chance of growing mold. Using too much salt, it will prevent all bacteria good and bad from growing, which will halt fermentation. The right amount of salt for fermentation is somewhere in the middle, and it is also in this range that the fermented vegetables taste the best.

If you are experienced with fermenting, just like cooking, you can taste your salt brine to determine if it’s salty enough. But most people like to refer to a brine percentage table. Salt brine percentage is calculated by weight which is hard to measure in a home kitchen and quite confusing. Luckily they have been converted to easy measurements using cups and spoons.

2% Salt Brine = 1 TBSP Salt for every 4 cups of water
3% Salt Brine = 1.5 TBSP Salt for every 4 cups of water
4% Salt Brine = 2 TBSP salt for every 4 cups of water
5% Salt Brine = 2.5 TBSP salt for every 4 cups of water

These are the most commonly used salt brine percentage. Depending on what you are fermenting, you may want to use higher or lower salt content. For this fermented pickles recipe, I use 4% salt brine. I recommend a 4-5% salt brine for fermenting cucumber pickles. I will explain further in the next section.

The Crispy Pickle Secrets

In case you are wondering, when it comes to pickles, the crispier and crunchier the better. If you are new to fermenting, one of the easiest way to fail at pickle fermentation is to have the cucumbers turn mushy. There are a few factors that will affect the crunchiness of the fermented pickles.

Generally higher percentage salt brine will keep the pickles crunchier than lower percentage salt brine. You will want to keep your salt brine at about 4-5% when fermenting pickles rather than 2-3% and lower. 4% salt brine translates to 2 tbsp of salt for every 4 cups of water; 5% salt brine translates to 2.5 tbsp of salt for every 4 cups of water. I use 4% salt brine for this recipe, as I don’t like to make my pickles too salty. Higher percentage salt brine will help preserve the crispiness even more, and you will also have saltier pickles as the result.
Pre-soaking the cucumber in ice water is a common practice to maintain the crispiness of the cucumbers. The ice water perk up the cucumbers that may have shrivelled since picked off the vines.
Trimming of the blossom end of the cucumbers will remove the concentration of an enzyme that will continue to ripen the cucumbers and turn them limp.
Commercially made pickles available in grocery stores often contain an ingredient called “calcium chloride”. Calcium chloride is an additive that keeps the pickles crispy. When fermenting pickles at home, we can use natural ingredients that contain tannin to keep the pickles crispy. Some tannin-containing plants regularly used in pickle fermentation are: grape leaves, oak leaves, raspberry leaves, bay leaves, tea, etc. I use bay leaves and green tea in my fermented pickle recipe as they are readily available. You may substitute with other leaves in your recipe for tannin.
Smaller sized pickling cucumbers often turn out crispier than the larger ones.

Re-purposing Fermented Pickle Juice

Once the pickles are finished, the fermented pickle juice doesn’t have to be thrown away. You can re-use the fermented pickle juice in following ways:

Use a small portion of the fermented pickle juice to kick start the next batch of pickle fermentation. Note that this is a very controversial topic among the fermenters. Many fermenters believe that old brine should never be added to a new ferment, as it interferes with the natural stages of fermentation, therefore reduces the health benefits. However, in traditional practice, old brines are frequently re-used to ferment new batches of vegetables. If you do use some old brine to kick start the new fermentation, you can rest assured there is no health risk nor will it ruin your vegetables. If you are one who doesn’t like re-using old brine in new ferments, there are many other ways to use your leftover fermented pickle juice.
Use the fermented pickle juice to make pickle juice salad dressing, which is amazing in this smoked salmon potato salad.
Use the fermented pickle juice in marinades for meat.
Use the fermented pickle juice in soups.