How to Make Pickles: 6 Methods From Quick Pickle to Lacto-Fermented

Start here - this is the easiest method and the place every home pickler should begin. Pack a 32 oz mason jar with whole gherkins (or sliced cucumbers if larger), 4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced onion, and a handful of fresh dill or dill flowers.

Fill the jar half with white vinegar and half with water for a 50:50 brine. Pour the liquid into a pan with 4 teaspoons each of kosher salt and sugar, bring to a boil to dissolve, then pour the hot brine back over the cucumbers. Seal the jar and refrigerate. Wait at least 24 hours before tasting. These last about a month in the fridge.

Slice cucumbers thin (1/4 inch coins are classic). Layer them in the jar with thin-sliced onion. The brine for bread and butter is sweet - 2 parts white vinegar to 1 part water, plus a full cup of sugar per quart, 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, 1 teaspoon coriander seed, and 1 teaspoon turmeric for color.

Heat the brine to dissolve the sugar, pour hot over the cucumbers, seal and refrigerate. Bread and butter pickles taste best after 3-4 days in the fridge - the sugar needs time to penetrate the cucumber.

This is where pickles get interesting. Fill a jar with cucumbers, garlic, and dill. Make a brine of filtered water and kosher salt at 4-5% salt by weight - weigh your water in grams and multiply by 0.04 to 0.05 for the salt. No vinegar.

Pour the brine over the cucumbers, weight them down so they stay submerged, and leave the jar at room temperature with the lid loose. Within 3-5 days the brine will start to cloudy and the cucumbers will turn from bright green to half-green - that is when you have a half-sour. Move to the fridge while still crunchy.

Same method as half-sour but leave the jar out for 10-14 days instead of 3-5. The brine turns cloudy white, the cucumbers turn olive-green throughout, and the flavor goes from mild salt-tang to deep deli-style sour. Move to the fridge once they reach your preferred sourness.

Mike uses a 5% salt ratio (water weight x 0.05 = grams of salt) for full-sour. The higher salt slows the ferment so you have more control over when to stop it.

This is where things get fun. Pack a jar with cucumbers, plus 4-5 cloves of garlic, a chunk of fresh ginger, sliced scallions, 1/4 cup Korean gochugaru chili flakes, and a splash of soy sauce. Top with a light salt brine (3% salt by weight).

Leave at room temperature for 2-3 days for a quick spicy pickle, then move to the fridge. The gochugaru turns the whole jar a deep red-orange and the flavor is closer to a kimchi than a classic pickle.

This is the method that gives you a pantry full of pickles that last 1-2 years at room temperature. Pack sterilized quart jars with cucumbers, 12 cloves of garlic, fresh dill, and any spices you want (peppercorns, coriander seed, mustard seed).

Make a brine of 1 part vinegar to 1 part water with 1/4 cup kosher salt and 1/2 cup sugar per quart of brine. Pour cold over the cucumbers leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Seal with new lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (covered by 1 inch of water). When the jars cool, the lids will pop down - that is your seal.

The six methods give you wildly different pickles from the same starting cucumber. Quick pickles last about a month in the fridge. Half-sour and full-sour fermented pickles last 6 months refrigerated. Water-bath canned pickles last 1-2 years at room temperature.

Wait at least 24 hours before tasting any pickle - the flavor needs time to penetrate. Fermented pickles taste best after 1-2 weeks of cold storage; the flavor continues to develop in the fridge. Label every jar with the method and date so you remember which is which when you reach for one a month from now.