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Homemade Probiotic Pickles

Eating fermented foods introduces beneficial bacteria into your digestive system and helps the balance of bacteria in your body. Probiotics help slow and even reverse some diseases, improve bowel health, aid digestion, and improve your immune system! I believe that the best probiotics come from fermented foods, and its a lot cheaper than buying expensive probiotics from the store.

While suppliments can be good for boosting your system short term, fermented foods are a better source over the long term. For more information on probiotics and my probiotic and enzyme packed home made sauerkraut recipe go to my blog.

So today we will try another probiotic packed cucumber recipe. I love, love the taste and can eat a dozen of them for dinner! You need to make sure that you pick dense (not soft) small cucumbers with a thin skin. If you didn’t pick them fresh from your garden, soak your cucumbers in cold water for an hour.

Most people make pickles with a water brine, but I prefer this healthy pickle method.

Ingredients:

  • 1kg (about 2lbs) of Cucumbers
  • 1 tbsp. spoon of Sea Salt
  • 2-3 large cloves Garlic
  • 1 bunch Fresh Dill
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • Black Peppercorns

Directions:

  1. Choose small, up to 10 cm (the smaller the cucumbers, the faster they’ll be ready.) Thoroughly wash them and cut the tips from both sides. Also slice a little cuts in them lengthwise so salt could get inside the cucumbers.
  2. Wash and chop the dill into big pieces or use the whole one. Pill and cut garlic.
  3. Add the cucumbers into a large glass container. Sprinkle salt all over the cucumbers, add the garlic, dill, bay leaf and pepper and dill. Close the container and shake it several times to distribute the salt evenly. Place them in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
  4. If the pickles are too salty you can add a little water, shake them again and let sit for an hour or two.

You can customize this recipe by adding other spices and herbs. For example you can add coriander, celery, tarragon, cherry leaves, horseradish leaves, currant, or finely chopped spicy pepper. Adding just 1-2 new ingredients to the original recipe gives your cucumbers a new taste each time.