Fermented Pickles

My Mariquita mystery box had a sack of cute little pickling cucumbers, all about 2-3" long - and my friend Matthew contributed two larger cucumbers from his box (amazing - I know three people who don't like cucumbers!). Instead of heating up vinegar and salt water and putting a big half gallon jar in the hot water bath - I decided to do a fermented pickle.

1. Thoroughly clean wide mouth half-gallon jar and vegetables.
2. Pack little cucumbers, thinly sliced ginger, a few of those serrano peppers from the mystery box, some cumin, mustard and dill seed into the jar.
3. Cover with salt water (1-2 Tb sea salt per cup of water).
4. Fill half-pint size jar with salt water, close up tightly with a lid, wash thoroughly and place in mouth of jar to keep veggies submerged.
5. Check veggies every day to ensure they are submerged - if a whitish mold or scum forms, scrape it off. Add more water or salt water (remember - some back up in your half-pint jar!).
6. After 2-4 days - check a pickle - use a clean pair of tongs or fork to reach into the jar rather than your hands. Stop fermentation by putting jar in the fridge - resume by leaving on counter (add more salt water and veggies).

YIELD:

1 half-gallon jar of cucumber-serrano-ginger fermented pickles

Enjoy!