There is another way of making dill pickles, which is quite popular.
It is by using a vinegar, as a preserving agent, and heat to seal the jars.
You can normally find those type of pickles on a supermarket shelf.
Some of them can be quite tasty, but the taste is all you actually get from this product.
Those cucumbers are preserved, so they are not fermented, and they are actually dead.
One more problem with them: most of them have added preservatives. Also, the vinegar that is used in this process, is a common white vinegar, which in some countries (like the US) is derived from GMO corn.
To recreate that familiar vinegary flavor, and to enjoy those cucumbers as a live product (meaning - loaded with probiotic bacteria, enzymes, and live organic acids), we have changed and optimized the standard recipe.
So we start we the freshest pickling cucumbers we can find.
We slice them and mix them with sliced onions, garlic, dill, and yellow mustard seeds.
Next, comes the turmeric.
And finally a cold brine.
But the brine consists of a mixture made of live Kombucha vinegar, a bit of Apple Vinegar (because the Kombucha vinegar does not provide the strong enough "bite"), filtered and revitalized water, and obviously some unrefined sea salt.
And again, the devil being in the details, it is the right proportions of those ingredients, that either make this ferment, or break it.
Next we put them into glass jars and we let them stay in room temperature for a couple of weeks. So, a bit longer than our regular Dill Pickles.
While they sit in jars, two processes happen at the same time - pickling and fermentation.
Kombucha Vinegar has tannins (those come from tea), and those tannins help those cucumbers stay crisp for a long time.
When they are done, they go into fridge, but the fermentation and pickling processes continue still inside the fridge, but at a slower rate.
After two months they look like this:
Those "live" pickles are great as sides to dinners with potatoes, as well as for sandwiches.
But no matter how you use them, they are a lot healthier than the ones you buy in stores.
Just keep in mind that these we only have them for a few months, so don't miss out on them!
Ingredients: Cucumbers, Kombucha Vinegar, Filtered and Revitalized Water, Kombucha Vinegar, Unrefined Sea Salt, Turmeric, Onion, Mustard Seeds, and Dill