Fermented Sandwich Pickles

August 01, 2018

Fermented Sandwich Pickles

My fermentation journey started a few years ago when we began our adventure into adopting a whole foods diet. I was really struggling with gut health issues and was desperately trying to find ways to heal my gut and restore the natural flora in my digestive tract.

In 2016 I was diagnosed with IBS also known as irritable bowel syndrome. To learn about my health journey click the video below.

Fermentation is a food preservation process that has been used for thousands of years. Fermentation encourages the lactic-acid-producing bacteria to grow and it is this bacteria that helps restore the natural flora of your gut improving digestive health, which in turn improves the quality of the immune system (Katz 21). It is really important to make your own ferments at home whether that be yogurt, kefir, kombucha, or in our case today, pickles because the ferments bought from the store are pasteurized. Pasteurization destroys the protein carriers that transport nutrients to the body, making it difficult to absorb all that wonderful calcium and vitamin D our bodies need (Weston A. Price Foundation).

TOOLS

One of my favorite elements about fermentation is it doesn't take too many fancy tools. To get started all you need is:

mason jar

mason jar lid like these ones or you can invest in this one, pictured below

some kind of weight to keep your ingredients submerged in the brine (I like this brand)

When I first started fermenting I used what I already had on hand and once I started fermenting on a regular basis I invested in a nicer set.

The lid shown in the picture above you can find here, but I love them because I don't have to remember to "burp" my jar when I'm fermenting something. If you plan on using regular or plastic mason jar lids every so often you have remember to release the build up of Carbon dioxide from the jar. With these special fermentation lids you don't have to because it lets the carbon dioxide out without letting oxygen in. It's great! These lids also have a number dial so you can keep track of how long your recipe has been fermenting.

Let's Chat About Ingredients:

Be sure to use fresh vegetables without blemish. In this recipe the only ingredients we're using are cucumbers, garlic, and dill. If garlic is not your thing then completely omit it from the recipe... flexibility is our best friend when it comes to fermenting. The only component that we need to be precise on is the brine.

Brine is simply water and salt. it is really important that we use the proper salt to water ratio to encourage a healthy ferment. It is also crucial to use filtered water especially if city water is involved. City water is full of chlorine, fluoride, and all kinds of other unmentionable things. Even though we have well water at our house, I still only use filtered water. The best filter systems I can recommend are the Berkey water filter and the Santevia Water filter system. Both systems filter out all the bad stuff, but the one difference is the Santevia puts important minerals back into the water. It's also very important to use a natural salt such as REAL salt.

Now that we've discussed the important things, let's make pickles!

Author: Greeting Tree Farm