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    Home » Cooking Stuff

    Fermented Dill Pickle Recipe (Old-Fashioned & Made in a Crock)

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    I need you to put your Laura Ingalls bonnet on now because you’re going to learn how to make old-fashioned fermented dill pickles in a crock.

    Not the vinegary kind. The kind that ferments slowly on your counter. The kind that develops flavour, character, and pickle superiority.

    Overhead shot of an antique pickle crock filled with pickles on a rough, grey painted wood floor.

    Table of Contents

    • What Is a Kosher Dill?
    • My First Pickling Attempt? A Salty Mess.
    • The Book That Saved My Pickles
    • What You Need to Make Crock Fermented Dill Pickles
    • Step-by-Step Fermented Dill Pickle Recipe
    • How to Keep Your Pickles Crunchy
    • Optional: Low-Temperature Pasteurization for Shelf Stability
    • Instructions
    • Are Pickling Cucumbers Really Necessary?
    • What to Add (or Not Add)
    • Are You Sure They’re Done?
    • Shelf Life
    • Kosher Dill Pickles

    What Is a Kosher Dill?

    It’s not about religious dietary rules—it’s about Jewish deli-style: garlicky, sour, and fermented naturally without vinegar.

    • Vinegar pickles = fast, shelf-stable, no probiotics
    • Fermented pickles = slow, naturally sour, full of gut-friendly bacteria

    Kosher dills are what dill pickles want to be when they grow up.


    My First Pickling Attempt? A Salty Mess.

    I tried fermenting pickles when I first moved into my house about 25 years ago and I have never been so excited to rot something.

    (O.K., fermenting isn’t rotting. But it sounds more daring. Less hippie, more mad scientist.)

    Whatever salt-to-water ratio I used must have been pulled from a salt lick, because what I ended up with were soft, inedible salt bombs.

    I now know that you can fix salty pickles, but I didn't know that then.

    If you've made pickles that are too salty, here's the fix that works in minutes.


    The Book That Saved My Pickles

    Overhead shot of Fermentation book resting on antique crock sitting on porch floor.

    Eventually I switched to a recipe from Sandor Katz’s Wild Fermentation. Since the book helped me create my own sourdough starter, I figured it could handle pickles. And with a name like Katz, he clearly understands both fermentation and a good pastrami sandwich.

    And I was right—these pickles are the real deal. If you're familiar with Strubs pickles ... these are like those.


    What You Need to Make Crock Fermented Dill Pickles

    Two baskets of fresh pickling cucumbers set on a white tea towel with antique crock in the background and dill laid about.
    • Pickling cucumbers (small and firm)
    • Salt (non-iodized: kosher or pickling)
    • Fresh dill (or dill seed/dill heads)
    • Optional: garlic, mustard seed, peppercorns, horseradish/grape/oak leaves (for crunch)
    • A fermentation crock or large glass jar
    • Water (unchlorinated is best)

    I use a classic 2 gallon crock with the weights to keep the pickles down.

    Step-by-Step Fermented Dill Pickle Recipe

    This is a traditional half-sour recipe using a 3.95% brine.

    Pouring water into antique brown and cream crock filled with pickling cucumbers.

    I used to make a saltier brine because it helped the pickles store longer. But I prefer this lower salt ratio—it just tastes better. And since I now process my fermented pickles, I don’t need the salt for preservation anymore—just for flavour.

    1. Soak Your Cucumbers

    Soak them in ice water for 2–4 hours before fermenting. It helps with crunch.

    2. Cut Off the Blossom Ends

    Karen Bertelsen prepping cucumbers at butcher block countertop.

    The blossom end (narrower tip) has an enzyme that causes softening. Get rid of it.

    3. Make the Brine

    Use a 3.95% brine:
    🧂 5 tablespoons of pickling salt per 8 cups (2 quarts) of water
    Make enough to just cover 8 lbs of cucumbers in a 2 gallon crock.

    4. Pack the Crock

    Layer in dill, garlic, and cucumbers. Shove it all in there. Add optional leaves or spices.

    Would you like to save this stuff?

    We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.

    5. Pour in Brine & Weigh Down

    Cover everything with the brine.
    Use pickle weights or a plate + clean rock to keep cucumbers submerged.

    6. Cover & Ferment

    Water in antique crock at the first stages of fermentation with bubbles forming on the surface.

    Cover the crock with a lid or towel so flies don't get in. Let ferment at 65–75°F.
    After 3–4 weeks, your pickles will be fully fermented. Start tasting around Day 10 if you like.

    7. Store

    Move to the fridge when they taste good. They’ll last months chilled.


    How to Keep Your Pickles Crunchy

    A 2 gallon crock covered with a white tea towel sits on a marble countertop with wood cupboards in the back.
    • Soak in ice water first
    • Cut off the blossom end The blossom end (it will be the more narrow end) contains an enzyme that causes pickles to soften when they ferment.
    • Add tannin-rich leaves (grape, oak, horseradish)
    • Use Pickle Crisp (calcium chloride) to keep crunch
    • Skip heat processing OR use low-temp pasteurization (see below)

    Optional: Low-Temperature Pasteurization for Shelf Stability

    If you want to process them but keep some crunch:

    Fermented dill pickles packed into pint jars with dill, cucumbers and a knife about.

    Instructions

    🫙 - Pack fully fermented pickles into clean, sterilized jars
    💦 - Bring your brine to a boil, then remove from heat
    🔥 - Fill a canning pot with water and heat to 180–185°F
    Use a thermometer or sous vide stick to maintain temperature
    🫗 - Pour hot brine into jars, leaving ½-inch headspace
    🧼 - Wipe rims, apply lids and rings
    🌡️ - Submerge sealed jars in 180–185°F water
    ⏲️ - Process for 30 minutes, keeping temperature steady
    🧊 - Remove jars and let cool at room temperature
    🧺 - Store in pantry for years


    Are Pickling Cucumbers Really Necessary?

    You bet they are. Pickling cucumbers are shorter, firmer, and hold up during fermentation.
    Regular cucumbers will turn to mush. I speak from experience.


    What to Add (or Not Add)

    At minimum, you need:
    ✔️ Cucumbers
    ✔️ Salt
    ✔️ Dill
    ✔️ Water

    Garlic is optional. So are peppercorns, mustard seeds, and bedtime stories. But don't go overboard—fermented dill pickles are about simplicity.


    Are You Sure They’re Done?

    A translucent, fully fermented pickle beside an opaque, not yet fermented pickle on a black plate.

    They’re ready when:

    • They’ve turned translucent
    • They taste sour and delicious
    • You start hiding them from people

    Shelf Life

    What determines the shelf life of your pickle is how much salt it contains. A full-sour pickle has a brine that is 10% salt. You could leave those for years and they'd still be preserved perfectly because of the amount of salt. They'd also taste like the Dead Sea.

    For pickles that are half-sours, like these, if you want to keep them around for months store them in the fridge or process them.


    Kosher Dill Pickles

    Kosher Dill Pickles like the kind you'd find at a good old fashioned Jewish deli.
    4.53 from 23 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Canning/Preserves
    Cuisine: They say it's from New York.
    Prep Time: 5 hours hours
    Fermenting Period: 30 days days
    Total Time: 30 days days 5 hours hours
    Servings: 9 pint jars
    Calories: 224kcal

    Ingredients

    • 8 pounds cucumbers small to medium size
    • 5 tablespoons kosher or pickling salt
    • 9 dill heads fresh
    • 1 handful fresh grape cherry, oak, and/or
    • horseradish leaves if available
    • 1 pinch black peppercorns
    • 8 cups water
    • 1 head garlic cloves skinned and separated

    Instructions

    • Bring salt and water to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt. Let cool.
    • Wash your cucumbers and cut off the "blossom" end.  You just need to remove the blossom part.*
    • Layer your cucumbers, dill and horseradish (or grape leaves) in the crock and cover with cooled salt water.
    • Place a plate with a rock (or something else heavy) on top of the pickles to make sure they're completely submerged.  
    • Test pickles after a couple of weeks. 
    • Cucumbers will be translucent throughout when they're done.
    • Place pickles in hot pint jars with enough brine to cover them and store in the fridge for several months.

    Low Heat Processing (once pickles are fermented)

    • Fill a canning pot with water and warm it to between 180 F - 185 F.
    • Remove pickles from the brine and stuff them tightly into pint jars.
    • Pour the fermented brine into a pot and heat until it comes to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
    • Pour hot brine into the jars of pickles to ½" from the rim.
    • Wipe the rim of the jars to make sure they're perfectly clean and put on a sealer and rim. Finger tighten only.
    • Place your jars of pickles into the warm water bath and process for 30 minutes making sure the water doesn't fall below 180 F or go above 185 F.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 224kcal

    Mazel Tov! You're ready to make deli-style pickles.


    Fermented Dill Pickle Recipe (Old-Fashioned & Made in a Crock)

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    1. Annie

      September 08, 2025 at 11:32 am

      Hi - I followed the recipe for canning with the cup of salt and added vinegar. Pickles are fermented through but they are super salty. Is there any way to remedy? I used horseradish leaves and the crisp is amazing!

      Reply
      • Karen

        September 10, 2025 at 12:00 pm

        Hi Annie. Kosher dills are notoriously salty. The one thing you can do is to soak the pickles you want to eat in water. The longer you leave them in water the more salt will be released. It works! ~ karen

        Reply
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