Harvest Creations Part 2 - Twice Fermented Pickles

 It is such a bother when while bottling cider, one runs out of bottles.  It is a scramble to figure out what to do with the precious liquid that remains.  Well, I had that very problem!

 The cider was captured and parked into the refrigerator, until I decided what to cook with it.

Well then, enter Pinterest, I stumbled on a recipe for Wort Pickles.  That got the wheels turning....Cider Pickles!  Then, I thought, lacto fermentation, as well.  Which lead to this creation - Twice Fermented Pickles.  I guess they could be called Drunken and Fermented Pickles.

Start with approximately, a dozen medium sized cucumbers and a 3 quart jar (of course, you could use 3 - 1 quart jars).  These jars should be swing-top, unless you happen to have a fermentation set-up with canning type jars.

Wash your cucumbers and then top and tail them.

I used my handy crinkle cutter to slice them, as pictured.

Put those slices into your jar.  Now make a brine from boiling 12 oz. apple cider vinegar, 3 pinches of sea salt, 2 handfuls fresh dill weed, 2 bay leaves, a pinch of peppercorns, 2 pinches turmeric, and 2 cups of sugar.   Pour this over the sliced pickles.  Let cool.  They can be put into to refrigerator to cool.  They should definitely be cool for the next step...

.Add 1/4 cup whey.  I used the liquid from my  home fermented saurkraut.  You can use whey drained from plain yogurt.  Mix this well with a wooden spoon.  

 Fill the remaining gap in the jar with apple cider.  Let set outside the refrigerator for 2 days.  After the 2 days, place in the refrigerator and enjoy right away.  The pickles should be very good in about 2 weeks.

You do not want to can these pickles, it will kill the probiotics that you gain by lacto-fermentation.  These pickles are of the refrigerator variety.

*************************************************************************************