#kosher dills

[jazzeria]

My first time making lacto-fermented dill pickles!

In Winnipeg, local pickling cucumbers became available in early July. I bought a few pounds to try pickling.

Some of the pickles were quite large, so to help them fit, I cut them into quarters.

I'd never made nor eaten this type of pickle before, so I decided to try different seasoning combinations. The base recipe (left) contained: yellow mustard seed, black peppercorns, coriander, cloves and scapes/flower of garlic; and dill seed, leaves, and flowerheads. The middle jar doesn't have coriander. The right-most jar also contains grated and salted horseradish which I froze in fall.

Unfortunately, the horseradish flavour did not survive the freezer, and was barely detectable in the finished product.

After a few hours in the brine, the cucumber skins turned an unbelievably bright, deep green, which was surreal to see! This happens as the acidity increases and microbes begin eating the surface of the cucumbers.

On day 3 or 4, the brine turned cloudy, which happens as lactic acid is produced. I've read a few different explanations for the cloudiness:

It's the high density of active, living microbes

It's the high density of dead microbes still suspended in the solution

It's lactic acid (I don't really believe that)

Numbers 1 and 2 seem the most plausible, because the cloudiness clears up a little after a few days, and a whitish sediment can be seen settling. If #3 were true, that wouldn't explain why the brine clears up after a few days.

Because this was my first time, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to make "half-sours" or "full-sours".

Half-sours are fermented for about 4 days. The pickles still have a whitish (or marbled) flesh, instead of being uniformly translucent.

Full-sours are fermented for about 7 days or longer. The flesh is more uniformly translucent. In order to match this longer ferment time, the salinity is typically increased (compared to half-sours). But hypothetically, you could use the same salt content and just ferment longer--at the risk of a softer (less crunchy) pickle--which is what I did.

Here in Winnipeg, with a room temperature below 23C (air conditioned), the quartered cucumbers reached half-sour by about Day 3-4:

And the intact cucumbers reached half-sour by about Day 5-6:

These half-sours were mild, but still pleasingly crunchy!

Putting them in the fridge on Day 6 didn't halt the fermentation soon/fast enough, and these pickles turned full-sour in the fridge, and got a little softer. So my next batch of intact cukes will go in the fridge on Day 4 or 5.

I've also learned that I want a really dilly dill pickle, so I should add more dill than I think I need! I wonder if toasting the dill seed will alter the flavour of the finished product very much?

The taste was different from storebought garlic dill pickles (vinegar-pickled) that I've tried. The acidity was less harsh, for one! There was also an additional flavour, which I guess was the "fermented cucumber" flavour. It's difficult to put my finger on what that means exactly.

The quartered pickles got a little soft, so I minced them and will be turning them into relish (a future blog post, once I've figured out a recipe!).

[magnetothemagnificent]

are kosher dill pickles actually kosher or is it just a misnomer like how strawberries aren't berries? 🤔

If they're called kosher they legally have to be kosher.

That's why Jewish-style delis are called "Jewish-style" and not "Kosher" if they're not actually kosher. And spoiler alert, if a deli is called "Jewish-style", it's not actually kosher.

Kosher is a descriptor of the kind of food, like "halal" or "vegan" or "gluten-free".

However, the reason Kosher Dills are called "Kosher Dills" is not because they're kosher, nowadays most popular pickle brands of any kind are certified kosher, at least in the US. They're called "Kosher Dills" because the specific type of dill pickle was introduced by Jewish immigrants and first sold by Jewish pickle-vendors.

It's kind of like how Kosher Salt isn't called "Kosher Salt" because it's kosher. Halakhically, most salt is kosher and doesn't even need a kosher certification if there's no additives. Kosher Salt is called "Kosher Salt" because it's the kind of coarse, large grained salt that is used by kosher slaughterhouses and butchers to salt and drain meat of blood. (Kosher meat must be drained of blood, using a process of salting and soaking, because consumption of blood is forbidden.)

[cb-reblog]

[huntingteeth]

i made a cheese plate for dinner last night. i might make a cheese plate for lunch tbh

[werewolf-transgenderism]

at least the POTS means that I am medically required to have a high salt intake and thus can justify buying the fancy pickles because they're for health reasons :)

[shastafirecracker]

*cracks knuckles* trope ask game: omegaverse, soulmate au, reincarnation au?

omg going for the big guns straight out

omegaverse: depends on the author/specific take. I like a version where abo biology has is about the same level of effect on human behavior as irl sexual characteristics. basically if the scents make people fuck instantaneously, in public, outside their control, it's an insta-NOPE. but a decently pre-communicated "oh sure I'll help you through your heat/rut... hope we don't catch ~feelings~"... yeah yeah I can go there, lol

soulmates: I don't really know, I haven't read much of this! I guess that already tells you I don't seek it out. I don't really care for fate or predestination tropes, they're a little squicky. and they just mute out all the best romantic possibilities imo

reincarnation: there is no middle ground, only stone cold bangers or the biggest nopes I've ever clicked out of XD I mean the main thing is that the reincarnated person is an OC until proven otherwise and if the author doesn't understand that then the train is headed straight for squickville and i'm jumping out of it like a rail hobo

none of these three are ones I think I've ever searched out on purpose, but I've read them if there was no other option (omega) or I got a strong, curated recommendation

[conshirtoe]

I only became a pickle girl when I was given a pickle with every sub I bought from the grab and go station at college and I didn’t want to waste food

[transexualbutchfagdyke]

trick or treat 👻

sorry. here's pickle soda. it's lukewarm idk if thats better or worse tho

[theood]

This sandwich I made would be better if it had pickles on it

[mewtonian-physics]

every time i think about kosher dill pickles i'm like [blows a kiss] you're welcome, pickle lovers

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

the funniest thing about being jewish and having pots is that if i’m feeling really off then eating pickles will usually help

[annefretz]

This decadent spring salad is perfect for lunch or dinner.

[pretty-little-martyr]

what is it thats in kosher dill pickles that makes them taste So much better than the regular degular dill pickles

[readyforthegarden]

spent all day with sinus headaches and have been in bed since 7:30, and now we’re eating dinner in bed picnic style while watching a movie so I don’t have to leave the dark 😌

[quietplaceinthestars]

Pickle btw

[jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka]

Someone put a jar of pickles in the fridge at work and I owe them a jar of pickles now