Knowledge Base

Dill Pickles

Vegetable ferment · Traditional · peer-reviewed

Cucumbers brined with salt, dill and garlic — a classic lacto-ferment where native LAB turn crisp cukes into sour, garlicky pickles without vinegar.

Easy to make
3–14 days ferment
live-cultures, lactic-acid, fiber supplied

Ingredients

  • Fresh pickling cucumbers1 kg
  • Non-iodised salt (for ~3.5% brine)35 g
  • Water, non-chlorinated1 L
  • Fresh dill, garlic cloves, optional mustard seed / peppercornto taste

How to make it

  1. Step 1

    Wash cucumbers. Trim a thin slice from the blossom end (it holds enzymes that soften pickles).

  2. Step 2

    Dissolve 35 g salt per litre of water to make a ~3.5% brine.

  3. Step 3

    Pack cukes upright in a jar with dill, garlic and spices. Pour brine to cover completely.

  4. Step 4

    Weigh them under the brine so nothing floats. Cover loosely for CO₂ escape.

  5. Step 5

    Ferment 3–14 days at 18–22 °C. Taste from day 3; sourness deepens with time.

  6. Step 6

    When pleasantly sour and still crisp, refrigerate. Cold nearly stops the ferment.

What it is

Dill pickles are cucumbers preserved by lactic-acid fermentation in a salt brine flavoured with dill and garlic. Unlike vinegar pickles, no acid is added up front — the lactic-acid bacteria (LAB) already on the cucumbers convert sugars into lactic acid until the brine is too acidic for spoilage organisms. The result is a live, sour pickle with a clean garlic-dill aroma.

The science

Cucumber fermentation follows the same microbial succession as other vegetable brines. Heterofermentative Leuconostoc species often lead early, producing lactic acid, acetic acid and CO₂; more acid-tolerant Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and related lactobacilli then dominate and drive the pH down (Breidt et al., 2013). A brine around 3–5% salt favours LAB while limiting softening and spoilage yeasts; keeping fruit fully submerged maintains the anaerobic conditions the culture needs.

Blossom-end enzymes (pectinases) and warm temperatures are the main causes of soft pickles — hence trimming the blossom tip and holding the jar near room temperature rather than hot.

Safety

Safety rests on rapid acidification under brine. Keep cucumbers submerged, use non-iodised salt, and discard a batch that smells putrid, turns slimy, or grows fuzzy coloured mould (a flat white kahm yeast film can be skimmed). The pH of a healthy ferment should fall well below 4.6 within days.

Signs it worked / troubleshooting

  • ✅ Good: cloudy brine, crisp texture, clean sour-dill smell, mild fizz.
  • ⚠️ Soft or hollow = blossom end left on, brine too weak, or ferment too warm → trim tips, use ~3.5% salt, hold cooler.
  • 🚫 Fuzzy mould or rotten smell = contamination → discard.

How to store

Move to the fridge when the sourness suits you. Sealed and submerged, lacto pickles keep for several months cold; they continue to sour very slowly.

References

  • Breidt F, McFeeters RF, Pérez-Díaz I, Lee CH (2013). Fermented Vegetables. In: Food Microbiology: Fundamentals and Frontiers, 4th ed. ASM Press, 841–855. doi:10.1128/9781555818463.ch33
  • Franco W, Pérez-Díaz IM (2012). Role of selected oxidative yeasts and bacteria in cucumber secondary fermentation associated with spoilage of fermented cucumber pickles. Food Microbiology 32(2):338–344. doi:10.1016/j.fm.2012.07.013
  • Johanningsmeier SD, McFeeters RF (2013). Metabolism of lactic acid in fermented cucumbers by Lactobacillus buchneri and related species, potential spoilage organisms in reduced-salt fermentations. Food Microbiology 35(2):129–135. doi:10.1016/j.fm.2013.03.004

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