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Half Sours by the Quart

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By Linda Ziedrich

Posted July 23rd, 2007

This article is reprinted with permission from The Joy of Pickling: 200 Flavor-Packed Recipes for All Kinds of Produce from Garden or Market, by Linda Ziedrich, (1999, Harvard Common Press)

The Joy of Pickling: 200 Flavor-Packed Recipes for All Kinds of Produce from Garden or Market

Servings:	Makes 1 Quart Pickles
Author Notes:	Half-sours aren't pickles taken prematurely from their brine; rather, they're cured quickly in a low-salt brine, which hastens the fermentation so the pickles never get very sour, no matter how long they remain in the brine. In The Dill Crock (1984), John Thorne describes half-sours as "cucumbers still, not pickles-little cucumbers who [have] died and gone to heaven."
Ingredients:	1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed 1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed 1 bay leaf 1 garlic clove, chopped 1 quart 3- to 5-inch pickling cucumbers 1 dill head 1 chile pepper, slit lengthwise 1 1/2 tablespoons pickling salt 3 cups water
Instructions:	Makes 1 Quart 1. Put the peppercorns, coriander, bay, and garlic into a quart jar. Gently wash the cucumbers, and remove the blossom ends. Pack the jar with the cucumbers, adding the dill head and chile pepper. Add the salt to the water, and pour the brine over the cucumbers, leaving 1? inches headspace. Push a quart freezer bag into the mouth of the jar, and pour the remaining brine into the bag. Seal the bag. Keep the jar at room temperature, with a dish underneath if the seeping brine might do some damage otherwise. 2. Within 3 days you should see tiny bubbles rising in the jar; this means that fermentation has begun. If scum forms on top of the brine, skim it off daily, and rinse off the brine bag. lf so much brine bubbles out that the pickles aren't well covered, add some more brine made in the same proportion of salt to water. 3. The pickles should be ready within a week, when they taste sour and when the tiny bubbles have stopped rising. skim off any scum at the top of the jar, cap the jar, and store the pickles in the refrigerator for about 3 days, after which time they should be olive-green throughout. They are best eaten within about 3 weeks.