Salzgurken

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •2 clean 1-litre glass jars
• •Fermentation weights or small clean glass weights
• •Digital scale
• •Small tray for catching brine overflow

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash the cucumbers

   Scrub the cucumbers under cold water and trim 2mm from the blossom end of each one. That little end carries enzymes that soften the flesh in the jar, and leaving it on is how a crisp cucumber turns tired before it turns sour.

2. 2

   Make the brine

   Dissolve the salt fully in the water to make a 3 percent brine, 30g salt to 1 litre water. Measure it. Too little salt lets spoilage run ahead of the lactic bacteria; too much salt slows the souring until the cucumbers taste dead and only salty.

   If your tap water smells strongly of chlorine, boil it and cool it first or use filtered water. Chlorine is put there to stop microbes, and here the good microbes are doing the preserving.
3. 3

   Pack the jars

   Put dill, garlic, mustard seed, peppercorns, bay, the grape leaf, and horseradish if using into two clean 1-litre jars, then pack the cucumbers in tightly but without bruising them. Tight packing keeps them from floating, and floating is the enemy because anything above the brine meets air.

4. 4

   Cover with brine

   Pour the brine over the cucumbers until they are completely covered, then weigh them down with a clean fermentation weight or a small clean glass weight. Leave 2cm headspace because the brine will bubble and rise as fermentation starts. The cucumbers must stay under the liquid the whole time.

5. 5

   Ferment at room temperature

   Cover the jars loosely or use fermentation lids, set them on a tray, and leave them at 18 to 22C for 4 to 7 days. Warmth speeds the souring but can soften the cucumbers; cooler rooms take longer and keep a cleaner crunch. Open or burp sealed jars daily so pressure doesn't build.

6. 6

   Taste and chill

   Taste one cucumber after day 4. When the brine is cloudy, the smell is clean-sour, and the cucumber has turned olive and tastes sharp enough for you, tighten the lids and move the jars to the refrigerator. Cold slows the fermentation, so the crunch you earned stays with you.

7. 7

   Serve from cold

   Serve the Salzgurken cold, sliced beside rye bread, fried potatoes, cold roast pork, lentils, or a plate of sausages and mustard. Use clean tongs every time, because the brine is the keeper now and dirty fingers are not part of the method. Weggeworfen wird nichts: the sour brine can sharpen potato salad or a pot of lentils.

Chef Tips

• •Choose small, firm pickling cucumbers with bumpy skin. Big salad cucumbers have too much water and too little structure; they soften in the brine and then you have sour sadness in a jar.
• •Use salt without iodine or anti-caking agents. The additives can cloud the flavour and sometimes trouble the fermentation; plain salt is cheap, exact, and better.
• •A grape, cherry, or oak leaf is there for tannin, not decoration. Tannin helps the cucumber flesh stay firm during fermentation, which is why the old kitchens kept leaves in the jar.
• •A white film on top is often kahm yeast; skim it off and keep the cucumbers submerged. Fuzzy mould, a rotten smell, or a slimy brine means throw that jar away. No heroics with preserves.
• •Once the cucumbers are sour enough, refrigerate them. At room temperature they keep fermenting, and what was crisp and bright can become soft and too sharp.

Advance Preparation

• •Start 4 to 7 days before you want to eat them; the exact day depends on room temperature and how sour you like the cucumber.
• •The finished jars keep refrigerated for about 1 month as long as the cucumbers stay under brine and you use clean utensils.
• •For a larger batch, keep the same brine ratio: 30g salt per 1 litre water. The percentage is the recipe.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 100g)