Making pickles without vinegar

Jo’s Deli pickles
2-4 pounds of Kirby cucumbers – these are the small bumpy ones about 20
1 cup of kosher salt
6-10 heads of dill with stems, I trim the stems to 10 inches.
If your dill has no mature seeds, add a tablespoon of dill seed
1-2 heads of garlic – cloves peeled Use less if you don’t care for garlic
1 small onion cut into 4-6 pieces.
A heaping tablespoon of mustard seed
1 tablespoon each: caraway seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds
If I feel like it, I add three whole cloves – but they sometimes overpower the pickles.
3 cups of boiling water (to dissolve salt in)
1 gallon jar – glass or plastic. But well cleaned and rinsed.
1 quart zipper-close plastic baggy half full of water, air forced out (to hold pickles under the brine.
Heel of rye bread – if you have to buy rye bread that isn’t all rye, try to at least get the cocktail rye that’s got a lot of rye flour.
Wash the pickles vigorously, make sure there’s no soil , but try not to break off all the bumps. Remove any stem pieces still attached to them. Rinse under clean water.

Dissolve salt in boiling water. Put dill, garlic, bread, onion and spices in gallon container. Pour hot salty water over the whole thing. Add washed cucumbers and then fill with cool water. Carefully jam the plastic baggy over the opening so that the cukes are held under the brine, and let sit at room temperature (60-80 degree F) for a week. I take the baggy out and replace the lid, give the jar a couple of big shakes, and return the baggy to its place each day.

After a week, I taste the smallest pickle. Sometimes it takes me more than 10 days to get the best flavor. When I’m happy, I put the whole thing in the fridge to slow down fermentation. If the pickles are too strong, you can make a milder brine with salt and water (1 cup or less to 1 gallon water) and move the pickles to that. But keep them in the fridge.

I munch one or two a week until they’re gone. Then I always wish I’d made more! You can put the pickles in the fridge early – I think those are called half sours. I don’t like them as well as there is sometimes a bitterness to the skin.