Fermented pickles are amazingly delicious. Yet, like all fermented foods, they are susceptible to spoilage if you plan on storing them for more than a few months. Canning fermented pickles means that you can enjoy the delicious flavour of traditionally fermented pickles all winter long.
If you are new to fermenting or canning then here are a few background resources to help you.
- How to ferment pickles: includes a review of the different containers that can be used for fermenting cucumbers.
- Water bath canning basics: including what type of equipment you need and how to hot pack process foods.
What about the probiotics?
Unfortunately, canning fermented pickles in a hot water bath canner means that those pickles are no longer probiotic. Canning kills all the bugs (good and bad). However, canned pickles will last in your cupboard for a year (or more) and still have that delicious fermented pickle flavour.
If you are interested in probiotic storage pickles, then try my recipe for Grandma’s fermented pickles.
Canning Fermented Pickles
Do you want to enjoy the flavour of fermented pickles all winter long? This recipe involves a quick fermentation for flavour, then uses a boiling water bath canner to preserve the pickles in their brine. These shelf-stable pickles will last in your cupboard for a year or more!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: Approx. 6 quart jars
- Category: Pickles
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: Polish
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pickling cucumbers
- 1 liter (4 cups) of water
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 1/4 cup of non-iodized salt
- 2 dill flowers or sprigs of dill weed
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 tsp pickling spices (optional)
- 2 tbsp grated horseradish root (see notes)
Instructions
- Wash the cucumbers and trim off the blossom ends. Cut up the larger cucumbers as required.
- Pack cucumbers into a sanitized container for fermenting. (See notes for more details).
- If you are fermenting in several smaller jars, divide the spices between the containers. For example in a large mason jar I would add in 1-2 cloves of garlic, 1 sprig of dill and 1 tsp of spices.
- Combine water, vinegar and salt to make a brine.
- Pour the brine over the cucumbers.
- Allow to ferment somewhere cool and dark for 2-3 weeks. Check every 2-3 days, and skim off the foam/scum and top up the brine as needed. The pickles are finished when they have changed from bright green to a dull green and have a delicious fermented flavour.
- Remove the pickles from the brine. Then strain the brine into a small pot, discarding the dill, spices and garlic.
- Pack the pickles into hot canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Bring the strained brine to a boil and pour over the pickles, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Using snap lids, process the jars in a boiling water canner (10 minutes for 500 ml jars and 15 minutes for quart jars).
Notes
- Pickles will become soft and mushy over time. While removing the blossom end helps, you can also add a source of tannins like a grape leaf, 1 tbsp of grated horseradish root, or a pinch of black tea.
- If this is your first time fermenting, then I recommend reading some basic fermentation advice.
- Using a fermenting crock is traditional for fermenting pickles; however, you can skip skimming the scum if you use fido jars instead.
Keywords: canning, fermented, storage, traditional, summer, fall, winter, water bath, vegan, gluten free, nut free, dairy free, paleo, keto
I am considering making the Honey Garlic Pickles, similar to a bread and butter pickle from what I read and would like to do the long term storage. So I assume I would do the recipe as stated for that particular pickle and then follow the steps here from step 7 for storing long term? Is that correct? Thank you.
Yes, the honey garlic pickle is my version of bread and butter. 🙂 Another way to can a fermented b&B pickle is to ferment as described in this recipe, then can it with a standard bread and butter brine. Either should work nicely!
I am thrilled to get this recipe! Even after killing the probiotics after canning them, the dead ones are still beneficial to your body. I found that out after doing much research. An old timer also said they would add pickles daily to the fermented ones, and after a few months can them. She said the crock was so large a cild could take a bath in the crock. It was that large. Anyway excited to get this! Thank you!!!
That is a great piece of advice!
Canning them negates all of the benefits to fermenting them. I’ve had three year old fermented pickles in my fridge that were still great.
I totally agree but I wanted to cover all the topics. 🙂 My favourite recipe is a fermented pickle that is fine to stay the pantry for up to 6 months (maybe longer but mine are always eaten by then). You can find it here: https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/grandmas-fermented-pickles/