Fermentation is contagious

With the success of my first batch of pickles, I made a bunch of family members come test out my pickles to get their opinions and suggestions. I guess that inspired my mother in law who decided to make pickled cabbage. Another one of my favorites from Russia. Her jar is going into the closet to keep my pickles company!

Trial 2 Week 2

Here is an update from my second trial of pickles but team crunchy this time! Like the last time there are bubbles formed at the top and the water is looking much murkier. I took these pictures today, so the final result will not be done before the last lab, but I'll try to remember to update you all about the success of my 2nd trial. I hope it'll work!

Trial #2

So after my success with the first batch (which I was so excited about since fermentation seemed so gross to me in the beginning and I was worried that I would do something wrong and poison myself) I decided to better my results by fixing the one problem I had with the first batch : crunchiness. I looked everywhere for the right cucumbers until one day I went to Costco to grocery shop and saw little baby cucumbers in the cooler. They are so crunchy usually and looked like the perfect little guys for my project. I hurried home and repeated the method, however I added a bunch of the spices, dill and garlic from my pickled jar to add more flavor and to see what would happen.

Here is a picture of the jar ready to go into the dark closet for a while.

Waaaay overdue pictures

Guys! I decided to wait a little bit longer than the mere minimum suggestion just because I like my pickles extra sour and tangy, so 4 weeks later I finally tried them! Delicious but kind of squishy. I think that I waited too long to start the process so my cucumbers weren't as crunchy to begin with. I also couldn't find any pickling cucumbers since they are out of season in the winter up here so I had to use the European ones cut up. I'll have to think of something better for the next trial run. Here is a picture pre tasting! They look well pickled if I do say so myself.

Bubbles!

Hey Guys!
I have great news! Fermentation has begun. Today I checked on my pickles and found TADAA BUBBLES! Here is proof :) I'm so excited that so far things are working out.

Method

Here is how I started the process:
1) I washed the mason jars to make sure there was nothing lurking around that would mess with my fermentation
2) I washed the cucumbers to make sure nothing was lurking around on them either
3) I sliced the cucumbers and packed them into the jar about half way
4) I then added 1 TBS of pickling spices and 2 cloves of garlic (peeled, with ends cut off and mashed to release the flavor)
5) I covered this with fresh dill and filled the rest of the jar with more sliced cucumbers
6) I put the pot on the stove and poured in the distilled water to heat up
7) Then I added 6 TBS of salt and waited for it to dissolve
8) When the salt dissolved, I added 1 1/3 cups of the brine into the jars and topped them off with more distilled water until everything was submerged
9) I closed the jar and shook it, to make sure that everything moved and mixed
10) I put the jar in a dark cool place and will burp in a week

Here are pictures of the jar full of ingredients before and after the brine

Getting started....

I finally made my way to City Market to purchase all of my ingredients, after all of the snow storms and my crazy work schedule last week. This long wait also gave me much needed time to find the best recipe to use for my pickles.

Here is a list of my materials as well as what they look like:
-3 large European cucumbers (I guess there are no pickling cucumbers this time of year)
-6 cloves garlic cut up and smooshed
-6 bay leaves
-3 tbls pickling spices
-fresh Dill
-6 salt
-3 quart sized Mason jars
-3 bottles of sterile distilled water (courtesy of work)
-1 small pot to dissole the salt in with water to create the brine