I have cucumbers... should I try fermenting?!?!?

[garden pixy]

I have these:

I want these:

Now what?

My basement is happily maintaining 75 degrees (high of 78 this week, low of 73) and 16% humidity. Is that too warm to ferment?

What equipment do I need, food grade bucket? I have a 3 gallon glass jar, would that do?

I'm looking for holy-crap mouth puckering sour... what else should go in the bucket?

 

[so lucky]

I'm not sure but I'll be watching this thread to see. I wanna do that too if I ever get enough cukes.

 

[freemotion]

75 is the ideal for the room temp phase but too warm for long-term. You want them in a cooler place within 3 days to slow fermentation. We got a spare fridge for a song on craigslist just for this purpose....you can raise the thermostat to 50 F as long as you don't put regular stuff like milk in that fridge.

I made a wonderful cucumber salsa from a bunch of overgrown cukes and it was wonderful....a hit. WZ's idea. The recipe is on the fermenting thread, I think.

eta: here it is: http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2652&p=40

 

[garden pixy]

I need to have DH plug in and test the basement fridge, been awhile since we had that one fired up. *fingers crossed*

I keep looking up stuff online and everything I find says "cool" nice to have a definition, 50 degrees will be my target.

If i am going to be plugging in the spare fridge I'll *NEED* to look up some more ferments I can toss in there at the same temp



Wait! Cucumber salsa! *goes to look up*

 

[freemotion]

We just finished up a half gallon of tomato salsa that was hidden in the back of the fridge from last fall. It was still good but a bit too sour.....ate it anyways! It would've been better with the addition of a few fresh tomatoes to tone it down but it was great on nachos with fermented bean paste.

 

[Boogity]

Pixy, your post is very timely for me. I have just dumped my SECOND batch of fermented pickles into the compost pile this morning. I have a recipe that calls for 3/4C. pickling salt in 1 gal. boiling water. The first batch I used the 3/4 C. salt measurement and the pickles were so salty that nobody could even eat one. My second batch I only put in 1/2 C. salt and they were still so salty that I had to throw them out. I'm going to try one more time and use 1/4 C. of salt and see what happens. I'm a little concerned about safety as this may not be enough salt to create the proper fermentation environment in the jug.

This is the recepie that I used. Learning Herbs Website

Now this recipe seems to indicate that I'm using way too much salt. Maybe I should try this one. Wild Fermentation Website

I'm wasting my precious pickle cukes and the plants are starting to dry up out in the garden. Luckily we did put up 8 pints of dill pickles using the hot bath method a few weeks ago.

 

[garden pixy]

We just finished up a half gallon of tomato salsa that was hidden in the back of the fridge from last fall. It was still good but a bit too sour.....ate it anyways! It would've been better with the addition of a few fresh tomatoes to tone it down but it was great on nachos with fermented bean paste.

I'm thinking that fermented bean paste is something i need to try, just made too much salsa, it's in the fridge, going to can most of it and eat the rest, bean paste might be just what i need to go with it.

 

[garden pixy]

Pixy, your post is very timely for me. I have just dumped my SECOND batch of fermented pickles into the compost pile this morning. I have a recipe that calls for 3/4C. pickling salt in 1 gal. boiling water. The first batch I used the 3/4 C. salt measurement and the pickles were so salty that nobody could even eat one. My second batch I only put in 1/2 C. salt and they were still so salty that I had to throw them out. I'm going to try one more time and use 1/4 C. of salt and see what happens. I'm a little concerned about safety as this may not be enough salt to create the proper fermentation environment in the jug.

This is the recepie that I used. Learning Herbs Website

Now this recipe seems to indicate that I'm using way too much salt. Maybe I should try this one. Wild Fermentation Website

I'm wasting my precious pickle cukes and the plants are starting to dry up out in the garden. Luckily we did put up 8 pints of dill pickles using the hot bath method a few weeks ago.

The wild fermentation one caught my attention too, i think that is where I am starting this experiment. I have horseradish leaves so I'll sub that for the grape leaves and give it a go once I have my cool place set (hopefully my old fridge can do it) I canned up some pickles but I've been aching for the good stuff.

The "WHAT DID YOU FERMENT TODAY" thread is killing me... I only have so many crocks, jars and time...

 

[ORChick]

Pixy, your post is very timely for me. I have just dumped my SECOND batch of fermented pickles into the compost pile this morning. I have a recipe that calls for 3/4C. pickling salt in 1 gal. boiling water. The first batch I used the 3/4 C. salt measurement and the pickles were so salty that nobody could even eat one. My second batch I only put in 1/2 C. salt and they were still so salty that I had to throw them out. I'm going to try one more time and use 1/4 C. of salt and see what happens. I'm a little concerned about safety as this may not be enough salt to create the proper fermentation environment in the jug.

This is the recepie that I used. Learning Herbs Website

Now this recipe seems to indicate that I'm using way too much salt. Maybe I should try this one. Wild Fermentation Website

I'm wasting my precious pickle cukes and the plants are starting to dry up out in the garden. Luckily we did put up 8 pints of dill pickles using the hot bath method a few weeks ago.

Boogity, if you use whey you won't need to use so much salt. Both *Nourishing Traditions* and *Wild Fermentation* have instructions, but if you wait a bit I'm sure freemotion will come back and give you pointers. We're not great pickle eaters here so I haven't made enough to advise you with specifics, but free is a pickle fiend! Hold on to those cukes for just a bit longer; it would be shame if they needed tossing as well.

Also, to both garden pixie and boogity - have you read through the *What are you fermenting today?* thread? Its long, but has lots of great information/ideas/recipes.

 

[freemotion]

I use more salt when it is hot out (room temp being above 80 F) and less when it is cooler out....rare during pickle season. You can always put it into the fridge after only a day or so when it is hot....I have a half gallon of pickles made Wed at 8 PM (took me about 5 minutes, including washing the cukes!) and will go into the fridge....now. Less than two days. It is around 90 F here. I used about 2 Tbsp salt. You can also put the salt on the top, and not mix it in. It is to prevent mold while lactic acid builds up. Whey will speed this up. You can get whey by straining yogurt or kefir if you don't make mesophilic cheese using cultures and rennet. You can freeze your whey in ice cube trays and bag tightly for storage for a few months so you don't have to keep straining yogurt.

I just had a cold cucumber soup for lunch.....big cukes, skin on....a few fresh basil leaves and kefir, whirled in the blender, then salt and pepper added. Sour cream would be better but I rarely buy it anymore. Yogurt would work, too. I think I'll try another batch with onion/garlic powders, but just a little. It should be cool. I like it a bit grainy, not too smooth.