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.
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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
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Ingredients for Homemade Bubbies Pickles. My homegrown garlic was a little small, so I used 4 heads.
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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.
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Hi all you pickle lovers. I just tried an experiment…….bought one cucumber,sliced it into spears and put into empty bottle of Bubbies Brine. Figured I could afford the expense and wanted to see what would happen……Put the whole bottle in fridge and waited about 5 days. Curiosity got the better of me and I began tasting.They are now about 10 days old and pretty tasty.
Certainly not as crisp and the real thing, but better than anything else on supermarket shelf.
Will of course continue to purchase the real McCoy, but in a pinch this will do. My favorites are the green tomatoes. Have to control myself not to finish the jar in one sitting.
Interesting, Dee! A great idea! We’ve done this with hard-boiled eggs (put it into leftover Bubbies brine) and the result was fantastic!
Thanks for sharing!!
Lindsey
Hi Lindsey – Checking back in. After 6 days of ‘working’, my pickles were to our liking and boy do we like them! They are a fantastic pickle and I agree they rival Bubbies in every way. I was also interested, as Indigo was, in developing a way to can them as I bought 16 lbs of cucumbers so I’ll describe what I did and I fully expect it to work well. Since there was some mold on the top of the brine with all the pickles, I decided to clean some mason jars, make up another mix of the spices, and boil up some clean salt/water brine. I put a 1/2 tsp of the spiced in each jar, packed them with the pickles (wedging in one at the top cross ways so as to keep the rest down), filled with boiling brine and put the seal on with a ring. All but 2 sealed themselves and they are in my pantry now. I put the unsealed ones in the frig. I have tasted them after canning and LOVE them. I think this process will definitely keep them thru the winter. I have processed other fermented pickles this way only with the actual brine boiled, but didn’t want to do that with this batch b/c of the mold. I used fresh grape leaves off my neighbors vines during the fermenting and it worked like a charm. The crispness is super. Thanks Lindsay and I’ll check in with how they have held up into the winter. I will be processing another batch before winter comes. I am grateful for you sharing your love of Bubbie’s with fellow Bubbie’s fanatics. This trail of remarks shows how grateful we are that you developed the recipe. Have a super day!
Sandy – WOW! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back & report on your results. I’m so glad, of course, that they turned out well and are delicious, and I think it’s so cool you canned them — I must try it!! Did you use any kind of “keep it crisp” sort of thing, like calcium chloride in your canning brine?
Thanks again!!!
The very best to you,
Lindsey
Lindsay,
I didn’t add calcium chloride, didn’t have any, but might try adding a torn grape leaf next go around to see if that makes a difference. I have had good luck with them staying crisp after chilling in the past so I am not too concerned. I’ll keep trying new things though as every obsessive pickle girl does……I’ll stay in touch.
Sandy
Hi again Sandy,
Thanks so much for your reply, and yeah, do report back — I’d love to know how crisp they stayed after canning!
Thanks again,
Lindsey
Hi – am trying your recipe in a plastic bowl…the cukes are submerged fully, but some of the spices are rising to the top and looking a bit moldy…should I scoop them out. along with the white scum?
Hi Laurie,
Yeah, that’s what I do. You’ll lose some of the spices along with the white scum, but it’s OK.
One more silly question…it I pull a pickle out to taste it(e.g., cut a piece off), can I put it back into the brine if it’s not sour enough yet? I made the batch late Sunday afternoon…Many thanks!
Hi Laurie!
Not a silly question! Yes, you can put the pickle back in to continue fermenting. But yes, I’d cut a piece off rather than bite it off. I always try to be clean around my ferments…not obsessively, but reasonably. Like, washing my hands before plunging them into the brine…not double-dipping with my spoon…and not biting off a pickle end with my teeth and then putting it back in.
So yes! Cut off a piece w/ a knife, then put ‘er right back in!
Cheers,
Lindsey
I’m going to try this, I had never heard of the grape leaf trick. My favorite Bubbies pickles are the bread and butter pickles. Does anybody have a recipe for those? They taste just like the ones my step grandmother used to make when I was a kid.
Jackie,
Gosh I’ve never tried their bread & butter pickles, so I don’t have a recipe for them unfortunately.
Good luck making these!
Lindsey
This turned out great. I’ve made 3 batches and realized that the smallest, freshest, firmest cucumbers make a big difference. I use 1 gallon of H2O and 1/2 cup of pickling salt. Also very fresh garlic makes a big difference. I put half-cucumbers on the top which ferment faster and are ok after just 3 days “half-sours”. I put the pickles in jars after exactly 1 week and right into the fridge. With the leftover juice, I freeze it in ice cube trays and use it later in a variety of things. Great recipe.
Mr Delicious, thanks for your comment and feedback! Yay! I’m so glad it worked out well for you and I love your idea of freezing the extra brine for other uses! Awesome.
Cheers,
Lindsey
Mine have a kind of weird taste and very salty. I think I left in way too long(almost 2 months on one bottle and a little over a month on the other). I failed to check during that time for doneness. Do you think it is possible to do something of these to fix? Or should I just toss and try again next season? Thanks for your input. Andrea
Hi Andrea,
Sorry your pickles got overdone! Try soaking them in plain water for a while (days or weeks, I would guess?) — that’s the first thing I’d try. It may take out some of the saltiness, but not sure if the off flavor can be fixed. I’d sure give it a try, though! Good luck~
Hi.. There
Can you make these without the grape leaves or the other options you suggested? I don’t have access to any of those at this time.
Thanks.
S.F. – You absolutely can; the pickles should still turn out well.
Best of luck to you!
Lindsey
After more experimentation I’ve decided using a 2 gallon crock with 1 gallon of brine is better because the pickles can float around and less chance of bruising. I remove any pickle that gets soft during this time and cut out the bad part and return (or eat) the rest. I think soft pickles can give an off taste.
I found a fast way to peel a whole head of garlic. Search Youtube for peeling a head of garlic in 10 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d3oc24fD-c
I’m still putting some cucumbers sliced longways into the crock and start tasting one-a-day after about 3 days to monitor the done-ness and taste.
Mr Delicious, Thanks for these ongoing updates! That’s helpful, and I’m very curious if the garlic trick works; have you tried it?
Cheers!
Lindsey
I don’t have access to grape leaves etc either, but if it’s the tannins in the leaves that retains the crispness of the cucumbers then would reduced red wine maybe work? I know the alcohol on straight wine would hurt the bacteria, but a wine reduction would remove the alcohol and concentrate the tannins.. Any thoughts? Also, have you ever tried this recipe with okra or carrots instead of cucumbers? How well does that work? Thanks!
Hi Tracy!
The grape or oak leaves are optional, and I’ve found that the pickles are fine without them too. If you’d like to play around with red wine reduction that might lend a really fun taste, but it’s probably an unnecessary step. But heck, why not give it a try on a small jar of pickles! It actually sounds good, doesn’t it. 🙂
Cheers to experimentation!!
I’ve never tried this with okra or carrots; if you try it, do report back! We’ve pickled eggs (both chicken eggs and quail eggs, hard boiled & peeled) with this recipe and they’re great… if you’re into pickled eggs.
Best of luck, and thanks for dropping a line 🙂
Lindsey
Thanks for posting this! I have planted 10 pickling cuke plants this year for experimenting with fermentation. I love Bubbies and cant wait to try your recipe!
Hi Lindsey: I followed the recipe exactly, except I didn’t have the leaves. Today is day 10 and I tried the pickles. I’m finding that some have become hollow in the middle and are a little “soggy”. Any idea of what may have happened?
Hello David,
Thanks for leaving a comment!
Hmm, my guess is that the hollowness was likely there before you pickled the cukes (they grow that way sometimes), and perhaps the addition of leaves may have helped keep sogginess at bay. But gosh, all I can really say is to try a new batch. Sometimes, no matter how good one is at fermenting things, they just don’t turn out quite the way you want them to. There always seems to be an element of mystery involved, I’ve found. 🙂 I hope you’re able to try it again with a new batch of cucumbers (and maybe some leaves too)!
All the best of luck,
Lindsey
Found you via Craft today and I’m so excited to try this! So glad you mentioned using eggs in this recipe because I don’t think I have the patience to wait for my cucumbers to be here at the end of summer :)I’m also thinking the radishes once their up would be good this way
I am going to be growing cucumbers for the first time and I want to pickle some. do you have to use pickling cucumbers? I bought something called burp-less cucumbers I am curious about the canned ones mentioned. you mentioned putting them in the fridge to stop the fermentation but the other person sealed them and put them on the shelf. was anything necessary to stop the fermentation in those? and you wouldn’t be able to skim off the yeast in the canned ones or would the yeast not grow in those?
Hi Nadine,
You can use any type of cuke; doesn’t have to be pickling cukes, although since they’re smaller and more tender many folks like them better. Burpless are nice, since they won’t need peeling because the skin won’t be bitter.
If you can these cukes for storage on the shelf, you’ll have to process them the same way you’d can anything else (pressure canner); the downside of that is they’ll no longer be a living food since the beneficial enzymes will be destroyed by the heat in the canning process, but the advantage is they won’t be hogging fridge space — which is definitely a consideration if you’re gonna make tons of pickles.
Good luck this year with your cukes and pickles!!
so, I have one of the most unfortunate allergies ever… alliums (onions, garlic, leeks, chives, etc, etc, etc). I’m wondering if the garlic is a necessary part of this for keeping the brine from spoiling or if they will still work without it (although of course be much less tasty, but there’s nothing tasty about an allergic reaction!) thoughts?
Hi Tuesday!
Oh my goodness, that certainly is one of the most unfortunate allergies ever! I’m so sorry! To answer your question, the garlic is only for flavor. It isn’t necessary to keep the brine from spoiling (though it might help in that regard, too)… that job is done by both the lactic acid (produced by the lacobacillus bacteria, thus the term “lactofermented”) and salt.
Best of luck with your Bubbies pickles (and I will never take alliums for granted, ever again!)
Lindsey
Bubbies have lemon juice in the recipe, or at least that is the way I remember from my last jar. But I don’t see lemon juice in your recipe. Why don’t you include lemon juice? Or am I just confused?
Hi Richard,
No, Bubbies don’t have lemon juice in their Kosher Dills. Maybe they do in another type of pickle, but this recipe is a knock-off for their Kosher Dills 🙂
Cheers,
Lindsey
Hello Lindsey,
I am excited about making my own Bubbies! I have all my spices and have planted a 25 foot row of pickling cucumbers. But I have a couple of questions for you. First, can these pickles be canned? Someone in this thread said that they were going to try canning them but I didn’t see where they posted how that turned out. I don’t have a lot of available refrigerator space so I was hoping that I could can them. Second, can I do the brine bath processing in a plastic container instead of a glass jar, or do you think that would affect the flavor? I just don’t have an abundance of glass jars.
Thanks for the great recipe and advice!
Richard
Hi Richard!
I’ve never canned them but I would think they could be — I’d can in a pressure canner if I were you. And yep – feel free to pickle ’em in a plastic bucket. Never used plastic myself so I don’t know how it would affect flavor but if you use a food-grade plastic thing I would think it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Good luck to you!!!!
Lindsey
One more update. I now buy my spices in bulk and make an enormous amount that I keep in a plastic container. When it’s time for a batch of pickles, I just spoon out 6 Tbsp. into the crock. This is much faster and far less expensive than purchasing jars of spices.
Mr Delicious –
What a great idea to save time with the spice mixture!
Thank you for taking the time to mention that~~
Lindsey
Hi Lindsey,
I made this recipe before grape leaves were in season here in Greece, and flavorwise, my pickles were perfect. Texturewise, they were basically cucumber-shaped water balloons. I ate them anyway, but it was difficult! I re-used the original brine for the second batch, adding a handful of fresh grape leaves, and that made all the difference in the world! The pickles were perfect both in flavor and in texture! I’m about to re-use the brine for a third time now, but grape leaves are out of season again, so my question is this: Do bottled grape leaves still have their tannins and are they appropriate for use in this kind of pickling? Thank you very much for helping to bring the wonder of Bubbie’s across the world!
Rich
Hey Rich!!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment about the grape leaves!
Boy you know, that’s a really good question about bottled grape leaves and tannins. I don’t know the answer. Of course give it a try; bottled I imagine is better than nothing, unless they’re preserved with additives. Do you have access to raspberry, cherry, or oak leaves? They work too, but my Hubby prefers the milder taste of grape leaves.
If you do decide to try it, do let me know how it goes.
Cheers!!
Lindsey
I made these pickles last year using your recipe and wow, I loved them so much I couldn’t wait until my cucs were producing this year so I could make more!
I made more 3 days ago and can’t wait until they are finished! I’m going to stock up this season so they will last me all winter, I hate to be without them now they are so yummy! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe, I love it!
Oh my gosh Jill, thank you for writing!! I’m so happy the recipe worked out for you and that you loved the pickles so much! I think that’s awesome. The more people who make things themselves, the better! I hope your latest batch is just as much of a success.
Best to you,
Lindsey
Hi Lindsey – How wonderful of you to share all this with us. I am so looking forward to creating these addictive pickles! And I have questions that I didn’t see answered here and pardon me if I missed them. Since they aren’t “sealed” with canning, how long will they last, holding their original flavor, in the frig? Will they get overdone? And, could I create them in the crock then can them once they are finished, and store them in a cool place? My intention is to give them for Christmas presents… if I make them in July, would they keep well?
Thanks very much!!
Lauren
Hi Lauren!
Thank you so much for your dear comment!
Your pickles will very likely last beautifully until Christmas if you keep them in the fridge.
I still have pickles that I made in September or October last year, in the fridge, and they are still delicious! It always amazes me how long they last.
So Christmas should be no problem at all. They may progress a bit more in flavor, for instance perhaps taking on a little more garlic flavor as the months go by, but all in all, they won’t change THAT much.
I have never canned these pickles, but I imagine you certainly could. Other folks have asked about this possibility and I always say “I’m sure you could” but I haven’t heard if anyone has tried it yet.
What I’d do is go ahead and make them now, keep them in the fridge, and give them as refrigerated gifts at Christmas. What a wonderful gift! Raw, lacto-fermented pickles, made with love! I think that would be more of a sure thing than canning them. (I say this because my experience with canning another pickle recipe resulted in delicious but very very mushy pickles – although I probably should have added calcium chloride to the vinegar brine.)
All the best!
Lindsey
Can I reuse the brine and seasonings?
This recipe sounded great so I made up a gallon four days ago. Unfortunately, they seem to have developed some mold (not kahm yeast) at the top. The only alteration I made to the recipe involved the dill. I used seed from plants I grew and dried earlier in the summer and included some of the dried weed itself because the seed is very hard to separate entirely. Any thoughts about what I should do? Do I need to scrap the batch? Thanks.
Aaron
I am going to be brave and try your recipe!
My mom always made pickles this way — the old country way and the kahm yeast always grossed me out — but they were amazing!
Thanks~
Hi Lindsey, quick clarifying question. The oak leaves you are referring to are the ones that just grow all over the mountains, right. Do not have grapes around, but I could go up and get oak leaves from the mountains. Is this correct?
Thanks for posting this. Jumping up and down that we can make these.
S Kako,
We reuse the brine to make pickled eggs sometimes (toss some peeled hardboiled eggs into the brine in the fridge) but have never tried adding more cukes. I might add some more salt to the brine… or might not. It’s definitely worth a try. Report back to me if you do it!