Recipe: Fermented Pickle Chips

Having a big jar of super garlicky, dill-packed pickle slices in the fridge is an absolute must for us. These are the pickles that we are scooping out to stuff into sandwiches, burgers or to tide us over as we contemplate what’s on hand to make for dinner.

Cucumbers, for how ubiquitous they are with fermentation, can be one of the trickier vegetables to master. Their super high water content can lead to pickles that are mushy or hollowed out if the brine or cucumbers aren’t matched just right. For the snappiest pickles, we employ a few tried and true tips: Using very fresh pickling cucumbers, shocking them in an ice-bath before fermenting, adding tannins, and keeping the salt content high and fermentation period short. This is the method we use for our Classic Dill Pickles, and when Kirby cucumbers are in season we are making them on repeat.

But sometimes, perfectly firm, uniform pickling cucumbers are hard to come by. And as our craving for pickles doesn’t wane with the seasons, we’ve turned to making big jars of lacto-fermented sliced pickles. These pickles are packed with a ton of dill and garlic flavor and are the perfect sandwich pickle any time of year.

For cucumbers you want to use ones that are small, firm and mostly seedless. Pickling varietals work great, but we have also had success with the small seedless Persian and mini cucumbers that grocery stores stock year-round. But firmness is key, as you need the slices to maintain their shape through fermentation, so if any are soft, or have loose watery seeds you’ll want to add those ones to a salad and only use the super firm ones in your fermentation jar.