Have you ever had Bubbies? It’s the brand against which all other pickles are judged, at least in our house! My hubby is a huge fan. And if you like garlic, you’ll probably appreciate Bubbies, too. They’re not made with vinegar, but rather are made the old-fashioned way, though lacto-fermentation in brine. (I have a Bubbie’s Bread & Butter Chips pickle recipe too, which is made with vinegar.)
So for my very first attempt at homemade pickles, I turned the Bubbies jar upside down, identified which spices were in there, selected what looked like a good lacto-fermented pickle recipe, and hoped for the best as I sacrificed a couple of humongous garden cucumbers for the Great Pickle Experiment.
The results were shocking…in that I was shocked I had made something so tasty and convincing on the very first try. I certainly had expected the worst. In fact, I thought Hubby was being sarcastic when he tried the first one and told me they were awesome. He couldn’t stop talking about them! I was skeptical until I tried one, too. YO! Later, I did a taste test of my pickles compared to Bubbies; I actually liked mine even better! In the photo above, I used my large garden cucumbers, but to get the true Bubbies experience, go for the really small cukes; I find these at the farmer’s market, or at ethnic grocery stores. Go for organic if you can (which would be an upgrade from Bubbies, since theirs aren’t organic). Of course the really big cucumbers are fine to use, but because of their size, their insides won’t be quite as firm and crunchy as a smaller cucumber would be, and their skin will be a little tougher.
*****
Lindsey’s Bubbies Pickle Recipe:
1 gallon glass jar or ceramic crock
1/2 a gallon of warm water (tap water is fine)
A handful of fresh, clean grape leaves, oak leaves, or cherry leaves (optional — they supply tannins to keep the pickles crunchy) (UPDATE: raspberry & blackberry leaves work too, but have a stronger flavor than grape leaves)
3-4 lbs of cucumbers (small to medium is ideal, but if all you have is large, cut them into spears)
5-6 Tbsp non-iodized sea salt. I use Redmond RealSalt brand unrefined sea salt. (I usually prefer 6 Tbsp. Using 5 Tbsp of salt will yield a less salty pickle that my hubby prefers, however you may have to contend with more white film, or “kahm yeast,” on the surface of the brine during fermentation. More about kahm yeast in the instructions.)
2 – 3 heads of garlic, separated into cloves, peeled, & roughly chopped
3 Tbsp whole dill seed
2 Tbsp whole coriander seed
1 tsp whole mustard seed (brown or yellow, doesn’t matter)
1 tsp whole peppercorns
1 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
*****
Ingredients for Homemade Bubbies Pickles. My homegrown garlic was a little small, so I used 4 heads.
*****
Directions:
Rinse the cucumbers, making sure the blossoms are removed. Soak them in very cold water for a couple hours (if they’re not straight off the vine).
In a separate clean jar (not the one you’ll be using for the pickles), dissolve the salt into the 1/2 gallon of warm water. Set aside — this brine will be one of the last things you’ll add.
Into the clean, gallon jar/crock you’ll be using for the pickles, drop in the garlic, dill, coriander, mustard, peppercorns, fennel, and red pepper flakes.
Then, put the cucumbers into the jar. If you’ve sliced large cucumbers into spears, pack the spears vertically into the jar.
Pour the salt water solution (a.k.a. the brine) over the cucumbers.
Now, place the cleaned grape/oak/cherry/raspberry/blackberry leaves into the jar. My jar has a somewhat narrow mouth, so the grape leaves form a nice plug at the top of the jar so the cucumbers (which will rise to the top after you pack them in) don’t go above the brine.
You want your cucumbers (and leaves) to be completely submerged in the brine at all times. If they’re sticking up above the brine, they’ll get moldy. If your jar has a wide mouth, you may need to use a couple of plates to keep everything submerged. Another idea is to nest a smaller glass jar into the opening of the larger jar to keep everything down. Or, use a scrubbed & sterilized rock.
Using nested jars to keep everything submerged.
Another idea: use a rock to keep everything submerged.
If the brine still doesn’t cover the cucumbers, make more brine solution using: 1 scant Tbsp sea salt to one cup of water. Cover your jar with its lid (loosely), or with a cloth to keep bugs & dust out. If you see a thin film of white scum growing on the surface of the water, just skim it off as often as you can, but don’t worry if you can’t get it all. This is “kahm yeast;” it won’t harm anything, but do try to keep up with it otherwise it can affect the flavor of your pickles.
Sometimes, during pickle making, some of your garlic cloves will turn blue. This is not a problem. The Colorado Extension Service website says this about blue garlic:
Blue, purple or blue-green garlic may result from immature garlic or garlic that is not fully dry, from copper pans, or from a high amount of copper in the water. Garlic contains anthocyanin, a water-soluble pigment that under acid conditions may turn blue or purple. A blue-green color also may develop in pickles made with stored red-skinned garlic. Except for blue-green color resulting from an abnormally high copper-sulfate concentration, such color changes do not indicate the presence of harmful substances.
Your pickles will be ready after 1-4 weeks — depending on the temperature in your house. Our pickles are usually ready after 10 days on the counter in our warm apartment (average of 80-85°F) in late summer. Every couple days, do a taste test of your pickles. They’re ready when they taste done to you! Once they taste done, transfer the jar into the fridge to slow fermentation. Once they’ve fermented and are in the fridge, you can remove the grape/oak/cherry/raspberry/blackberry leaves and you don’t need to worry as much about the pickles being completely submerged in the brine.
Enjoy! These will last months and months in your fridge. I once kept a batch around for 9 months and it was still good.
And the brine is good stuff too; I like to drink it straight. It’s full of beneficial bacteria and good for your digestion! Since it’s salty, it would be especially good after a workout.
*****
I made a batch of lacto-fermented pickles this past spring when pickling cucumbers where plentiful and cheap at the farmers market. I used the recipe in Nourishing Traditions and they were good, but pretty mushy. Next year I’ll have to find some grape leaves because I like my pickles nice and crunchy!
Mmmm! I’ll have to try the recipe in NT. Pickles are so expensive that I’m thrilled to be able to make my own!
Thank you so much! Our local store no longer carries Bubbies, and I am fighting them on this issue. This will be a great project for me to try. Wish me luck!
Tonie,
Great! I hope all goes well for you! Best of luck, and please report back!
Love this, I’ll have to try it this summer when we get cucumbers.
Has anyone tried blackberry leaves for their tannin-rich leaves to keep cukes crunchy? I’m 5 days in with this sub and thought they would be easily avaiable everywhere.
If my normal house temp is 58-60f how long should I go with half sour recipe?
Hi Nathan,
I would just let your tongue be your guide. They’ll take longer in a cooler house, so just taste the pickles now and then and transfer them to the fridge when they’re done to your liking.
I’ve never tried blackberry leaves, but what an excellent suggestion (especially since they’re readily available and some of the first leaves to appear in the springtime)! They are quite rich in tannins (raspberry leaves are, too), so I bet they’d work great.
One thing I think I’ll try this year is to stash some tannin-rich leaves in the freezer so that I have them whenever I need them.
Anyway, thanks again for that suggestion! 🙂
I’ve made these a couple of times and they are great. My friends are tired of hearing me talk about these pickles, I’m sure.
I didn’t have a crock, so I used a zip-lock gallon bag (though I am aware of the evils of plastic). I found a jar of grape leaves at Central Market. The person who helped me find them was very intrigued that I was using them for pickles and not dolmas.
I used a 1/4 cup from the first batch as a starter culture in the second batch, and I do think it sped the process up by a few days.
After most of the pickles were eaten, I put a few stalks of celery in the brine and they turned out quite nicely, as well. I am about to start my third batch. Thanks for this recipe!
Ben,
Thank you ever so much for taking the time to share your experience! Yay! I’m so glad it worked for you, and that’s a really great idea to use some juice from the previous batch as a “starter.” Makes perfect sense — I’ll definitely do that next time.
And pickled celery sounds cool…I’ve never had that before 🙂
Thanks for this recipe, I’m trying your recipe for the first time Lindsay. I can concur with Ben on the ‘starter’. I’m a home beer brewer, and I use that technique to kick start my yeast. Thanks again!
I’m giving this recipe a try. I’m excited and have been looking for a recipe close to Bubbies. I’ve been pickling for 7 years and need a new variety. Wish me luck!
Great — let me know how it goes, Heidi!
I just made these and I think you have the name wrong…these are BETTER than Bubbie’s Pickles! I can’t keep these in the house; my family is going through them so quickly. I’m so thrilled to have found this recipe. You are my hero!!
Eileen,
Well that is just the nicest compliment! Thank you thank you! 🙂
Do you use regular cucumbers or “pickling cucumbers”? I have never tried regular ones because I’m afraid they’d be too mushy, but maybe the leaves help sufficiently with the regular kind?
Hi Katie,
Ideally one would use smaller, or “pickling” cucumbers. I’ve used giant garden cucumbers, and the pickles are only as crunchy as the original cucumbers. My giant cukes produced pickles that were somewhat mushy in the middle because that’s how the cuke was when I picked it off the vine. I’d recommend smaller, crisper cucumbers…but any type will work! The huge ones just won’t be as crisp. The grape leaves will for the most part maintain the crispness of the original cucumber, but they won’t “add crispness” to an already huge and mushy-in-the-middle cucumber…if that makes sense…
Good luck!
WalMart has 2gal clear glass crocks with cover near the canning section. I used Ball pickling spice’ it has all the ingredients as you use and a few others. Can’t wait to try them.
My recipe is almost the same but I use horseradish leaves.
My husband would get cramps in his legs after biking long trips. He googled it and found that 2 oz of pickle juice would relieve the cramps within minutes when massage, valerian, epsom salts & ginger tub did not. Trying it he was shocked that it actually worked within minutes. I tried it too and was equally surprised. I am a raw vegan so we wanted raw pickle juice and Bubbies was the answer. In my garden I have tons of Armenian Cucumbers, crisp and huge. So I looked at the herbs in the bottom of the Bubbies Pickle jar just like you and couldn’t identify them. Also, I had no idea about the tannin needed. Thank you so much for your brilliant creation!I googled Bubbies pickle recipe and there you were. I can’t wait to try it with my Armenian Cukes. I’m so excited!
Has anyone tried pickling eggs this way? Would it work?
Hi there Julie,
YES! My Hubby pickles eggs in Bubbies brine (or homemade ‘Bubbies’ brine) and loves them. He hard-boils chicken eggs, peels them, tosses them in, and waits about a month. He also loves to pickle quail eggs (lots of work to hard-boil them yourself, but you can get canned ones from an asian store — much easier!). The quail eggs only take about 5-7 days to pickle.
What makes these lacto-fermented? I don’t see any whey in the recipe or the addition of any cultures (however, it’s late and I could be blind too!). Should we add some whey to these to make them truly lacto-fermented? I love Bubbies pickles and am super excited to make these at home. Also, where do you find the grape leaves? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them around here (CO). Thanks! Great post!
Aaaaand, I was just re-reading some sections of Nourishing Traditions and I realized that the lacto in lacto-ferment doesn’t always mean whey is involved. All these years and I just assumed that lacto meant “with whey”!!! Learn something new every day! 🙂
Hi Jessica!
Thanks for your comments!
I know — it’s confusing because usually we think of “lacto” as in lactose/milk/whey…but in lacto-fermentation it has to do with lactobacillus bacteria and the lactic acid they produce.
And the grape leaves are very abundant — look for them to leaf out in maybe a month or two. They’re there! 😉 I like to gather them from alleys. Are you on the Front Range or in the mountains? I’m in Colorado too (Front Range), and have no problem finding them around the neighborhoods. Good luck!!
Hi Lindsey,
I’ve never made pickles and I was so excited to make these, but now I’m afraid my pickles have mold! I just looked at them and they are covered down the sides with this white, fluffy covering and on top of the liquid, there is white stuff! Are they ruined?? They smell so good! They have been fermenting for about 6 or 7 days.
I had the lid of totally loose and the jar covered with a cloth, as that is what they tell you to do with most ferments.
Please advise! Thanks!
Hi Victoria,
Thanks for your question! It’s kinda hard to say without seeing the pickles, but if they smell good, I’d say just scrape off as much of the mold as you can (and continue to scrape off daily), and let them keep fermenting. Basically, if your fermentation smells or tastes bad at the end of its fermentation time, it’s probably best not to eat it. Some fermentations, however, taste bad when they’re not done yet (like sauerkraut!), but will begin to taste a lot better later in the process. So give it time, and just take as much mold off as you can, and then re-evaluate in another week or two.
One other thing…you can go to my instructions on how to make sauerkraut (http://herbangardener.com/2010/06/27/how-to-make-sauerkraut/) and look at the last two photos in that post. Do your pickles look like that? The sauerkraut instructions have ideas on what to do if you see either of those things in your fermentations…
And by the way, I’ve had some really iffy-looking fermentations that I was sure were ruined…however I scraped off the mold each day, and the stuff underneath that top layer was awesome! You could also add a little more salt to your brine as a way of possibly controlling the mold, especially if it’s quite warm in your house.
Best of luck!
Thank you, Lindsey!
I really don’t know what to say! If I take a picture, how can I send it to you for your diagnosis? 🙂 Would that be possible?
Hi Victoria,
I’ll email you!
Cheers,
Lindsey
LOVE Bubbies! I just bought a jar which I can finish off in a day and also like eating them (and drinking the juice) as an electrolyte replacement after a sweaty bikram yoga class. everything seems easy except for the leaves. Not sure where to find…even living here in NYC. Is this something you can get at a grocery/special store? it isn’t likely I’ll be picking up any leaves off the ground. Plus I haven’t see a grape leave lying on the ground. haha. Any suggestions would be great
Bridgette, I love drinking the brine too!
Good question about the leaves. You could do a trial jar and just leave them out and see what happens. You may find you don’t need them. Does your NYC neighborhood have any oak trees around? Oak leaves work too. A Greek specialty store MIGHT have fresh grape leaves but I would doubt it. The leaves are really something you just collect, instead of purchase. You might just have to go to a garden center and, uhh, “accidentally break off” a couple leaves from a grape or raspberry bush they sell! Haahaa…seriously though, if you really look hard even in the heart of NYC, I bet you can find grapes or raspberry bushes. Do you have a cemetery nearby? That’s a good place to look.
Good luck!
I LOVE it! Thank you so much :o) I used blackberry leaves from my yard & local, organic cukes and garlic. It smells delicious.
I grew cukes this summer, and didn’t know what to do with them, and loved Bubbies, and thought I might be able to make my own. I found your recipe on the internet. I used grape leaves from a vine on my garage, and the leaves kept the cukes submerged in the liquid. My first batch was only about 7 cukes and they floated up, so the leaves were important.
I just made 2 more large jars and the pickles are submerged because they are wedged in tight. My first batch was ready after 2 weeks on the kitchen counter, loosely covered with the lid. I used too much garlic the first time for a small batch. This time I chopped the garlic and divided it between 2 jars.Thanks so much for this recipe.I served the first batch at a family BBQ, along side of the original Bubbie’s, and my family voted for mine!
Hi Claudia! Thanks so much for coming back to report on your pickle-making experience! That’s so awesome your family prefers YOURS!!!! I love it!! 😀
Best to you,
Lindsey
Hey Lindsey! Just wanted to share my love of Bubbies, I like to mix the brine 50/50 w spicy vegetable juice. Man that is good. Also meet the guy that started Bubbies back in Northern Cali. Nice enough older gent. Going to have to try this recipe, I can tear thru a jar pretty quick, funny thing is Im not much of a pickle fan, but put a jar of Bubbies in front of me, yum!
Hi David,
Thanks for your comment!! I’m going to buy some spicy veg. juice today (or maybe make some with the juicer) to mix with the leftover brine; that is such a great idea! I know I’m going to love it.
Good luck with making your own batch of Bubbies!
Best to you,
Lindsey
HI Lindsey,
Thanks SO much for posting this recipe–we love Bubbie’s and wanted to try to replicate. I am using your spice mix for some fermented pickle relish (per Bubbie’s)– as well. I am very new at this fermenting thing, and I have a question…
Per your directions I put some cucumber spears in to ferment this past Saturday. I am using raspberry leaves, and also an airlock. Today I notice that there is a weird color floating around in there–an AQUA blue. I pulled some out and it smells like/looks like the garlic, but that is a color I did not expect in there! Any ideas? It’s just free-floating. Nothing fuzzy on sides or top.
The relish, which I began just a couple of hours previous to the pickles, looks fine–all same ingredients. I am a bit perplexed.
Thanks SO much!
Hi Krislyn,
Thanks for leaving a comment!! Funny you should write about the aqua garlic clove, because I just encountered my first one also, in a batch I have going at the moment. Sure is a pretty color ehh! I just took it out & tossed it and didn’t really give it a second thought, so I wouldn’t worry — I figure maybe it’s some kind of weird chemical reaction between the garlic and ??? (who knows what), but I don’t have a clue, really! One thing I find with fermenting is that it’s no exact science. I mix up the recipe the same way each time, but you just never know what slight variation you’ll encounter (like blue garlic!).
Best of luck,
Lindsey
Hello again,
Thanks very much for your reply, perhaps there’s something in the jetstream from CO to UT that creates blue garlic, who knows? Unfortunately I have more than a single blue clove because I minced the garlic first–why did I do that? Anyway, I may throw out this batch and just begin again (the blue stuff is pretty prevalent), but I won’t completely despair because the RELISH turned out fantastic! Your spices in it made it YUM! Why didn’t the garlic in that turn blue? I’ll never know. If only I could teach some sort of chemistry lesson to my kids about it now, but since we don’t know…oh well.
Thanks again! Krislyn
Hi Krislyn,
Look what I found on the Colorado Extension Service website! (At this link: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09304.html)
“Blue, purple or blue-green garlic may result from immature garlic or garlic that is not fully dry, from copper pans, or from a high amount of copper in the water. Garlic contains anthocyanin, a water-soluble pigment that under acid conditions may turn blue or purple. A blue-green color also may develop in pickles made with stored red-skinned garlic. Except for blue-green color resulting from an abnormally high copper-sulfate concentration, such color changes do not indicate the presence of harmful substances.”
Okay, you did your research, I’ll have to do mine now and try to figure out which of the factors gave my garlic the blues. My garlic was probable 2 months old, stored in fridge (probably older than that given when it was probably grown) and I have no idea what our copper ratio is in our water. Hmmm. I really don’t want it to be the “abnormally high copper-sulfate problem” 😉
Thanks so much for the information!
OK, these are SO GOOD! I made a gallon jar of them last month and they were ready in about 5 days. We LOVE pickles, here, so needless to say they did not last long! Not sure how you have some still after 9 months! Thank you for the great recipe!
Judi,
YAY! So glad they worked out for you, and taste great. 🙂 Thanks for reporting back…
Cheers,
Lindsey
lindsey, I just finished putting a batch together and am so excited to see how they turn out. the bubbies pickle is definitely the comparator pickle in our house too and i would love to come close with my homemade ones. when i typed in bubbies pickle recipe, i was over the moon at your blog post and your description. i followed exactly except added fresh head dill because the farm market i went to get the cuc’s at had it. i have made fermented pickles with much success in the past but my latest batch this summer went bad, too much mold and that’s all i tasted. i misplaced that recipe and i went searching for another and found yours. it’s quite similar and i am happy you have the same goal in mind, tasting like bubbies….or better. thanks and i’ll report back as to the result and verdict. have a great day!
Hi Sandy!
Thanks so much for taking the time to say hi and leave a comment! Do report back… and I’ll cross my fingers that all goes well for this batch!!
Best of luck,
Lindsey
Lindsey, kudos — I have used your recipe several times now, always with excellent results. I’m excited because I just bought 12 pounds of baby cukes (!!), and I’m about to start again. My question is about canning them. Do you know if I can can them after they have fermented? How about NOW, as I am making them?? Also, re: the blue garlic, I googled it last year, after my first batch, and it is perfectly fine to eat or keep with the pickles, no need to toss it, it has not gone bad, just changed color.
Hi Indigo,
Thanks for reporting back on your results! Yay! Glad they’ve been successes. I’ve never canned my already-fermented pickles. I imagine you could…it’s worth a try with at least a jar or two…though I bet you’d want to add calcium chloride or other crunchiness-preserver found in the canning aisle of the supermarket. If you don’t use that, they’d likely turn to nearly mush once canned. (I’ve made that mistake before with vinegar pickles — they were delicious, but you could virtually suck them through your teeth, haahaa!)