Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Vegetables from New York City

Kosher dill pickles (half-sour and full-sour)

Small cucumbers are packed with dill, garlic and spices under a salt brine and left to sour. Pulled after a few days and chilled they are half-sours, only partly soured; left three to six weeks they become full-sours, sour through and olive-green. Made in 6 steps over 4.9 months – 7.6 months. The longest step, refrigerate or can, takes 4–6 months (National Center for Home Food Preservation (U…). Salt is 7 % (National Center for Home Food Preservation (U…). Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and related species and Lactic acid bacteria, which grew during the first week at room temperature do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4–6 monthsSet[nchfp-dill]Refrigerate or can
Temperature21–24 °CSet[nchfp-dill]Full-sour: ferment to the end
Salt7 %Set[nchfp-dill]Pour on the brine and weigh down
AciditypH 6.1–6.2 → 4.4Measured[kim2005]Half-sour: ferment a few days, then chill
Fully documentedVegetables4.9 months – 7.6 monthsMore vegetablesMore from United States

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) tested recipe for full-sour fermented dills, per gallon of container. There is no tested recipe for half-sours, and NCHFP research advises against home methods that ferment a week at room temperature and then refrigerate.
4 lb (about 1.8 kg)Pickling cucumbers, about 4 inches long[nchfp-dill]
2 TbspDill seed · Or 4–5 heads of fresh or dried dill weed[nchfp-dill]
½ cupSalt[nchfp-dill]
¼ cupVinegar (5 %)[nchfp-dill]
8 cupsWater[nchfp-dill]
2 cloves, optionalGarlic[nchfp-dill]
2, optionalDried red peppers[nchfp-dill]
2 tsp, optionalWhole mixed pickling spices[nchfp-dill]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.9 months – 7.6 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: A thin slice comes off the blossom end of each washed cucumber

Step 1 of 6
Wash and trim the cucumbers
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
L. plantarum

Cut 1/16 inch off the blossom end and discard it; leave ¼ inch of stem. Output: trimmed cucumbers.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
bright green

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Half-sours and full-sours are the same pickle stopped at different points. Commercial salt-stock cucumbers ferment in stronger brine in large tanks and are desalted before use; kosher dills ferment with garlic and dill and are eaten straight from the brine.

Related ferments

Safety

NCHFP tested the half-sour style 'refrigerator dill', fermented a week at room temperature and then chilled. Listeria monocytogenes grew during the warm week and survived up to 49 days inside the pickles and 91 days on the surface, so NCHFP does not recommend that method. Snyder et al. also flag lightly fermented half-sours as a higher risk, because chilling stops the pH drop before it reaches a safe level. Discard any pickles that turn soft or slimy or smell bad.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, which survived 49 days inside and 91 days on the surface of refrigerator dills; Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Clostridium botulinum, held back once the pH is below 4.6.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [nchfp-dill] National Center for Home Food Preservation (USDA and University of Georgia), Dill pickles (fermented)gov
  2. [kim2005] Kim J.K., D'Sa E.M., Harrison M.A., Harrison J.A. and Andress E.L. 2005, Listeria monocytogenes survival in refrigerator dill pickles, Journal of Food Protection 68(11), 2356–2361 (NCHFP research)paper
  3. [snyder2020] Snyder A., Breidt F., Andress E.L. and Ingham B.H. 2020, Manufacture of traditionally fermented vegetable products, best practice for small businesses and retail food establishments, Food Protection Trends 40(4), 251–263paper
  4. [osu-pickle] Oehler N. 2024, Pickle fact sheet, SP 50-466, Oregon State University Extension Servicegov