Lacto Fermented Pickles using Whey

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      I was introduced to lacto fermentation by my son who decided to make sauerkraut using this method of food preservation.  His sauerkraut was the first time I ever liked to eat the stuff and I was amazed!  I made exactly one jar of pickles after that.  They tasted good but weren't crisp.  I made a mental note to learn more about it and to try it again.  
         That was about 6 years ago. 
          Fast forward to this Christmas when my good friend Rhonda gave me a lacto fermentation kit for Christmas!  I was amazed and thrilled and thus my new journey into lacto fermentation has begun.  

What is Lacto-Fermentation:

Lacto-fermentation is a method of prolonging the shelf life of certain foods through a process that increases lactic acid in an oxygen free environment.  As the lactic acid and carbon dioxide increases in the fermentation process, oxygen is pushed out,  increasing the formation of healthy lactic acid.  As the lactic acid increases, other harmful organisms are crowded out and prevented from forming. The addition of salt to the process makes the perfect habitat for the good bacteria to grow. 

Lactic Acid can be found naturally in milk, grains, fruits and vegetables.  This naturally occurring acid can be used to ferment these products to create things like yogurt, sauerkraut, pickles, kimchi and sour dough. 

The fermentation process can take from a few days to months to finish.  Then, the fermented product is moved to cold storage to keep it from fermenting further and to store safely.  Fermented vegetables can last in the refrigerator for 6 months or longer. 

Health benefits of Lacto Fermentation:

• Fermented vegetables and yogurt contain good antioxidants and help reduce inflammation.
• Because fermented foods are not high heat processed, they contain live probiotics for gut health and many more nutrients to be absorbed by the body.
• Studies have shown that some fermented vegetables have immune boosting support.
• People who are lactose intolerant can sometimes tolerate lacto fermented milk products since the lactose is broken down during the fermentation process.​

The Process of Fermenting Vegetables:

Fermenting vegetables involves the following-

• Brine, 3-5% is best and  varies according to the vegetable you are fermenting.  I like to check tried and true recipes for guidance.
• Clean crock or glass containers with lids/fermentation lids that allow for the escape of oxygen during the process. 
• Weights to keep all of the vegetables submerged in the brine while the fermentation process is happening.
• Filtered Water, you don't want chlorine in there.
• Salt, canning and pickling salt or a good sea salt.  Nothing with iodine or other additions.
• Optionally, any spices that you would like to use to flavor whatever you are fermenting.  Fresh garlic, fresh dill or dried herbs as well.​

 What to Pickle?

      I started out with cucumbers to make my first batch of pickles this time.  I tweaked it as far as flavor goes, but I wanted to make sure that I got the brine percentage right! Also, you can't use just any cucumber because some are made for pickling and others aren't. Sometimes the skins are too thick or waxy. I searched the internet for what varieties lend themselves to pickling because there are no pickling cucumbers around that I could find in January!  But I did find one website that said that pickling would work on those long English cucumbers that are wrapped in shrink wrap in the grocery store.  Other sites said that they wouldn't, so  I decided to try them! Ha Ha!   
      Here are other things to pickle:

• Carrots
• cauliflower
• garlic cloves
• mixed veggies
• beets
• cabbage (sauerkraut)
• onions
• asparagus
• peppers
• radishes
• Just about everything! 

       So, I bought about 4 of those long English pickles and I decided to pickle them as slices to make sure that the brine could permeate the cucumbers very well, just in case the naysayers about those cucumbers were correct! Ha Ha!   
          The other thing that this recipe said was to use whey to start the ferment process going.  I didn't remember using whey that first time long ago, but I decided to try it.  But, you can't just find whey in the grocery store, you have to collect it yourself!  I did this by purchasing an organic plain yogurt and draining it through my yogurt strainer that I use when I make yogurt.  That liquid that collects at the bottom of the strainer is whey and it is what I used in my pickles.  Here is what it looks like:

It only takes a Tablespoon or two per jar to start the ferment.

     I have since learned that it isn't necessary to have whey to start the ferment because there is naturally occurring lactic acid on everything, including vegetables and all you really need is the salty brine to get the process started. 

       
      I wanted my pickles to have really good flavor, so besides the whey and the brine, I added additional spices to the recipe.  Here is what I did:

      After 7 days, my husband and I opened the jars and tasted a slice out of each one.  They tasted pretty good and we didn't die!  We didn't see any mold growing that we would have needed to spoon off and we saw no discoloration of the contents of the jar.  My brine seemed a little cloudy, but from what I have read, that is normal and maybe it was more so because of using the whey.   We decided to let them ferment for another 7 days.   After I closed the jars, I used the little pump that came with the kit to take the oxygen back out of the jars. 
      
       7 days later, we tried the pickles again and they were great!  Maybe a little too garlicky, but I love garlic, so that depends on your preference.  They were nice and crisp.  2 things that can help with the crispness is to either put grape leaves or a bay leaf in the jars.  They contain tannic acid that helps keep the crispness in.   I had only a few tiny bay leaves left in my dry spices, so I put in what I had.  It is difficult to find grape leaves growing in January, but I did have some grapes on stems!  I checked online to see if the stems would work and saw favorable responses, so I tucked a grape stem in each jar!  After the second 7 days, the pickles were still delicious, there was still no mold or anything, but I skimmed the top of the brine just in case I was just not seeing it.  Then, I put on the regular canning lids and put my pickles in the refrigerator to slow the fermenting process way down and to preserve them for at least 6 months, if they last that long! 

      
​      Here are the fruits of my labors: 

Those cucumbers worked! But, now I'm going to plant pickling cucumbers in my garden!

     We've been eating them on lunchmeat sandwiches and on pulled pork sandwiches and they are so good! 

Click for the printable pdf!

      Right after I finished pickling these cucumbers, I was able to get a bunch of carrots and I am in the process of pickling some of those now!  This time I am using just salted brine without whey or any other spices!  I think pickles carrots will be great on salads or in chicken salad and things like that.  I can't wait to harvest beets this year and pickle those! So many options.  

      Do you do lacto fermentation?  Do you have any great pickle recipes to share?  Please drop a link in the comments! 
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I didn't find my exact kit on Amazon, but this one is similar.

The traditional method of pickling was done in crocks rather than jars. One of the benefits is that doing them all at once and then putting in jars later assures that all of your pickles will have the same flavor and doneness.