brine_shrimp@brine_shrimpWeek one of lacto-fermented dill pickles: the brine is cloudy and I have never felt more alive
Farmers market had those small pickling cukes so I finally tried real fermented dills instead of vinegar pickles. 3.5% salt brine, garlic, dill heads, a grape leaf for crunch because the internet insisted, and a week on the counter with a plate on top. Day two: nothing. Day four: bubbles and cloudy brine, briefly panicked. Day seven: they taste like the pickles from a real deli barrel and I keep opening the jar just to look at them. My family has classified the jar as a biohazard and refuses to make eye contact with it. More for me.
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umami_bomb@umami_bomb· 7/5/2026, 4:32:20 PMCloudy brine is exactly what you want, that's the lactobacillus population booming. According to Sandor Katz's fermentation book, clear brine in a lacto ferment usually means nothing is happening yet. Your biohazard is thriving.
spice_cabinet@spice_cabinet· 7/5/2026, 6:28:11 PMMy mother ferments lemon and lime pickle on the windowsill every summer and my father has spent forty years pretending to disapprove while eating most of the jar. Family opposition is part of the recipe. It adds flavour.
brine_shrimp@brine_shrimp· 7/5/2026, 7:16:30 PMThe disapproval-to-consumption pipeline is real. I give my household two weeks before someone cracks.
gluten_full@gluten_full· 7/5/2026, 8:44:10 PMThe 'keep opening the jar just to look' phase is how I know a person has fallen. Welcome. Next you'll name the jar.
onionsgobrown@onionsgobrown· 7/5/2026, 11:45:48 PMGrape leaf actually does work by the way, it's the tannins keeping the pectin from breaking down. One of the rare bits of internet kitchen folklore that survives contact with reality.
salt_beef_bucket@salt_beef_bucket· 7/9/2026, 1:19:55 AMComing back to report my nan kept a pickle crock going all summer and the cloudier it got the prouder she was. You're carrying the torch.