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Copycat Bubbies Pickles

jmnovak
A recipe for bubbies pickles
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 3 days
Additional Fermenting time 21 days
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Deli, Jewish

Equipment

  • 1 1 Gallon Wide Mouth Mason Jar, Clear Footnote 1
  • 1 Stainless Steel Fermenting Kit for Wide Mouth Mason Jars Footnote 2
  • 1 Extra wide mouth lids Footnote 3

Ingredients
  

  • 1 packet Cutting Edge Cultures Vegetable Starter Culture Footnote 4
  • 2 tsp sugar white, granulated
  • 1 cup water filtered
  • 3-4 lbs cucumbers prefer pickling
  • 4 cloves garlic this feels fairly light. I may double this to 8 cloves. never enough garlic in a recipe like this.
  • 6 tbsp salt kosher
  • 3 tbsp dill seed whole
  • 2 tbsp coriander seeds whole
  • 1 tsp mixed peppercorns kosher
  • 1 tsp juniper berries
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • ½ tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds this is still an unknown at this point. Many other recipes use mustard seeds in their recipes. i will be using this

Instructions
 

Equipment Preparation

  • Drill a ⅓ inch hole in the center of one of the plastic lids in order to fit the rubber seal in the center. Be careful not to make the hole too wide or you will destroy that lid.
  • Insert gas valve chamber in the center

Pickle Preparation

  • Cut (or leave whole...your preference) the pickling cucumbers to your preferred shape and place in the pickling jar
    3-4 lbs cucumbers
  • Chop the garlic cloves finely and put in the pickling jar along with the cucumbers
    4 cloves garlic
  • Make the spice mix. Mix the salt, dill seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns, juniper berries, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes
    6 tbsp salt, 3 tbsp dill seed, 2 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp mixed peppercorns, 1 tsp juniper berries, 1 tsp fennel seeds, ½ tsp red pepper flakes, 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • Pour the spice mix into the pickling jar
  • Make the starter culture. Mix water, sugar and starter culture
    1 packet Cutting Edge Cultures Vegetable Starter Culture, 2 tsp sugar, 1 cup water
  • Pour the starter culture into the pickling jar
  • Fill the pickling jar with filtered water and close with the pickling kit jar tops
  • Add water to the valve
  • Place jar in a space that does not have any direct sunlight for 3 days
  • Place remove pickling kit jar top and place in refrigerator with a standard jar top for 3 weeks (21 days)
    1 1/2 weeks in the refrigeration stage
  • Eat (and enjoy!) your pickles

Notes

Links to buy equipment
  1. Gallon wide mouth link.
  2. Fermenting kit link.
  3. Extra wide mouth lids link.
  4. Starter culture link
The fermentation process really happens in 2 phases.  The first phase is where the lactobacilli bacteria (the good bacteria and salt tolerant) start to kill of the bad bacteria with the help of all that salt you added to it.  This is usually by the end of day 1.  The second phase is where that bacteria  start going to work on the cucumbers...eating the sugars....multiplying...and making lactic acid, which is the preservation agent for your pickles.  This happens most actively on days 2-3 or 4 (add an extra day if your house is particularly colder (mid to upper 60s). 
starting to look cloudy....this is good!
Your mixture will start to look cloudy during this time.
During this phase of the process, another by-product of the bacteria is carbon dioxide which will present itself with bubbles at the top of the jar and will try to force its way out of the valve.  Feel free to "burp" or press down on the top of the valve to force those gasses out once or twice a day.
Keyword pickles