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.
Table of Contents
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
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
- 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.
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
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
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
- 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:
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?
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
Ingredients
- 8 pounds cucumbers small to medium size
- 5 tablespoons kosher or pickling salt More if canning
- 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
If you want to process/can add these ingredients to the brine:
- 1 cup pickling salt This will replace the 9 Tbsps.
- ½ cup vinegar
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
- 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 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
Mazel Tov! You're ready to make deli-style pickles.
Jennifer
To aid with the fermentation I add 2 tablespoons of brine from a successful batch of fermented pickles or the yogurt whey from a live culture yogurt (that's the liquid that often forms when yogurt sits)
Arlene
This is what i grew up eating living in Brooklyn! Loved them! I tried making them a few years back and like you got a soggy gross mess i was devastated! I used blackberry leaves cos i read somewhere you could. But i would have no idea where to get grape leaves.
Babs
I am not in to making pickles but jam yes. Your hair cut is great. Just wanted to let you know.
Michelle B
Go Karen!!!
Real Deal fermented pickles - old school & chef style! Love this - Great post, as always, in your ultra cool Karen vibe. All the best to you from your fan In Virginia Beach, VA.
Jan in Waterdown
Sorry to interrupt with this local public service announcement…. did you know that Marty Strub is back in our area and making his eponymous pickles again? They’re available as “Marty’s” at Fortino’s and just like the Dundas made originals, not the wannabes who bought the family name. Yay for us non pickle briners!
Ok, back to your original programming. 😜
Siobhan
I am loving your content this summer! Thank you so much, Karen!
tuffy
Omg!! Thank you!! I love half sours (nobody knows what they are!) and have struggled for years, making them with different amounts of salt!
I am totally going to try this w our cucumbers- I trust you- this IS the recipe!!
I’ve learned that simple is best regarding spices, I totally agree.
tuffy
Also:
Can you do a “How I keep slim & beautiful” post?
You obviously either have significant talent in this arena or, you’re born w great genes!
So envious !
Dani
Hi. Is it COARSE salt that is used for this recipe?
Karen
Hi Dani. Yes - coarse kosher or coarse pickling salt. I normally use coarse kosher, personally. ~ karen
Dani
Thank you!!
Anna
I've had these fermenting for 3 weeks, and when I pulled one out to taste it, it was nothing but salt - no sour at all. Can I fix this?
Anna
I followed this recipe with the conversion for canning (1 cup pickling salt, 1/2 cup vinegar). It's been 3 weeks, and when I tried a pickle is was ALL salt, not a sour tinge to it. Have I not left it long enough? Can I fix this?
Jen
I want to can these fermented pickles. I ferment first with the nine tablespoons of salt first then when I am ready to can I add the one cup of salt to the original recipe
Mandy
These turned out delicious! I have one question though…if my brine formed a bit of what I think was kahm yeast while fermenting in the crock (I scooped off as best I could daily), would you still use the fermented brine to store your pickles? Or would you make a fresh brine for when you transfer the pickles to jars for storage in the fridge? Thank you!!
Karen
Hi Mandy! I would use that same (yeast covered) brine. I'm just about to open a jar from last year. :) ~ karen!
Mandy
Perfect! Thank you so much!!
MICHAEL SAMPSON
Just placed the second batch in the water bath with the sous vide at 180°. In total my 5 gallon crock did 9 quarts that I canned and 2 quarts in plastic deli containers in the refrigerator. They were salty but pretty damn good.
Cynthia Fletcher
Can I use any type of oak leaves? I have many oaks that produce acorns and thought about using the leaves but didn’t want to risk it until I knew for sure if they are safe to use.
Karen
Hi Cynthia. Any oak or grape leaf is fine. :) ~ karen!
Natasha sansotta
Any tips on how to store cucumbers until you have enough to pickle? I'm growing mine
Karen
Good question! You really do need to grow a lot of pickling cucumber plants to get enough to pickle at the same time. I typically grow 16 or so plants and that seems to work for me so that I don't have to store them for too long in the fridge before I can start pickling. I just put them in a crisper in my fridge with the lid cracked a little bit. You can also tightly wrap the cucumbers in plastic wrap to keep them in good condition for quite a while - just make sure they're perfectly dry before you wrap them. ~ karen!
Dan
after they are ready do you make fresh brine or use the brine they fermented in and store in fridge?
Karen
Hi Dan. Good question. You use the old fermented brine - it's what will preserve them. ~ karen!
MICHAEL SAMPSON
Just placed the second batch in the water bath with the sous vide at 180°. In total my 5 gallon crock did 9 quarts that I canned and 2 quarts in plastic deli containers in the refrigerator. They were salty but pretty damn good.
Karen
At least you can get the salt out if you want to! That's the remarkable thing about pickles. ~ karen!
Saramaria
I’m on day 5 and I have no fermentation bubbles and my pickles are way salty! Do I add more water to cut the salt?
John Allan Montgomery
Do you add vinegar and salt to the crock on day one?
Tamara
I want to can these and my brine is really cloudy, is that normal?
Kristin Ferguson
Where does one find horseradish leaves?
Jeanne
I would love to try this but all I have are large cukes. Will this recipe still work? Also, can I use canning jars to ferment rather than a crock? I have fermented cabbage in jars and it works great. Thanks for everything you do!
Karen
Hi Jeanne! You can indeed ferment in canning jars, it's just a bit easier in the bigger crock. A larger cucumber won't be the same because they'll end up very very mushy and probably full of seeds. But you can buy pickling cucumbers at this time of year for about $5 for a basket. I'd go that route if you can. ~ karen!
Kristin
I can't rate this recipe yet since my pickles are only two days in the jars, but I am using large jars; the kind with the wire gizmo to snap them shut. But I am not snapping them shut since that would be risky in case I forget to burp the jars every day. Instead, I filled two plastic baggies with enough water to fill the space that remains in my two jars, plus a little air so they stay on the surface, and tied them shut. They weigh the pickles down and keep them submerged, and they spread out and mold to the surface of the brine but can still fit in through the smaller opening in the jars, and any gas can escape around the edges. I'd post a picture but I don't think this site allows it.