Make your own Fermented Sun Pickles
Making your own home made pickles it not only satisfying, but it means you’ll be left with an abundance of pickle brine for picklebacks, martinis and Bloody Marys.
My grandma has been making these pickles for as long as I remember. She’s Czech, but most of the recipes in her repertoire are Hungarian, so let’s settle on it and just agree that Sun Pickles originate from a European tradition.
Sun pickles end up being closest in flavor to half-sour pickles, or that most crisp and awesome NY Deli style. But here’s the real twist – they’re not actually pickled! You see, the pickles you’re used to are made using a brine with a very careful ratio of salt to liquid to ensure the vegetables end up properly preserved and pickled, and usually rely on the addition of vinegar to help the process along. Sun pickles are in fact fermented, rather than pickled, so there’s an extra layer of funky flavor that puts them in the “can’t stop at just one” category.
The only tricky part with sun pickles is that, as the name suggests, you have to have sun. On the flip side, they are so quick and easy to make that they are ready to eat after three days!
The most important part is making sure you have pickling cucumbers (like Kirbys) for this recipe. My grandma neglected to mention that detail and the first time I made these they were disastrous – not sour at all and squishy soft. Any good market should have pickling cucumbers or be able to get them for you, but they are seasonal (hence them being traditionally preserved by pickling in the first place).
The other key is to make sure to cut off any stems or dead flowers from the ends of the pickles, and clear them thoroughly. This will also greatly affect the squishy versus crisp factor. Also, expect the brine to be cloudy – that’s a good thing!
Recipe after the pics!
Make your own Fermented Sun Pickles
Ingredients
2 lb Kirby cucumbers
3 tbsp kosher or pickling salt
4 cups water (preferably filtered)
6–8 garlic cloves, smashed
4–5 sprigs fresh dill
1–2 grape leaves, oak leaves or horseradish leaves (for crunchiness)
Notes
- Clean a large glass jar, you can sterilise in the oven if you wish.
- Lay garlic cloves and half the dill bunch at the bottom of the jar. Add the grape or oak leaves (if using) but they are an important part of keeping the pickles crispy, since they add tannins.
- Wash the cucumbers, and cut off the flowering end (this is the opposite end to the one with the stem). It just needs to be a small trim, sometimes any remnants of the flower can make the pickles mushy.
- Pack cucumbers tightly into the jar.
- Dissolve salt in a little boiling water and pour in to the jar.
- Lay remaining dill on top.
- Fill jar with water to just below the lip. Cover with cheesecloth.
- Place in direct sunlight for three to five days. Taste after day three to check for sourness.
- Once pickled, store in refrigerator.
- The cucumbers must remain submerged, top up water during the ferment if need be.
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About Jess Pryles
Jess Pryles is a full fledged Hardcore Carnivore. She’s a live fire cook, author, meat specialist and Meat Science grad student. She’s also a respected authority on Texas style barbecue. Australian born and raised, she now lives in Texas.
No vinegar? I have never seen pickle recipe without it. Is this correct?
Yup. its correct. its fermented, the old school way.
My Polish mom made them exactly this way, best pickles EVER!!!!
Thank you for the recipes, shes gone now and this is one of the recipes i was missing!!!
Thank you! My Slovak Babi (with lots of Hungarian recipes) made these and called them Sun Pickles. I tried a few years ago but they turned out musty. I searched the internet and could not find a Sun Pickles recipe anywhere. My first batch is going right now.
Excited to make these. My Hungarian Great Grandma made these all the time but have since lost the recipe. I was curious about the shelf life.
Thank you for this recipe. My Hungarian grandparents made these every summer and the recipe was from memory and lost to me! Cannot wait to make them.
Salt to water ratio please ?
you say 5-5 Tblesppons of salt not how much water..
I’m guessing 1 Gal ?
Thanks
I am Hungarian and have eaten these pickles since I could chew.
My mother never boiled the water and we kept the crock in the house without sun.
To keep everything submerged a heavy plate covered the pickles and rye bread. So good.
I see in the pictures a slice of bread, also if I’m not mistaken, the slice of bread is the jar right at the top.
Do you use a slice of bread instead of a cheesecloth?
Recipe and your IG post say cover with cheesecloth but your pictures here show the jars with lids and a little bread. What’s the difference or purpose of the bread?
The pictures show what appears to be sour dough bread. Not mentioned in the recipe.
I use a lot more salt to preserve 6-12 months. Yes, very salty, but in a good way with other ingredients to distract from the saltiness. This recipe would definitely need to be eaten within a month. Thanks as always for sharing, Jess!
Do you bring them inside at night, or just leave them outside?
I have been making your deli style Pickles for years now and they come out absolutely amazing. The rye bread seems to make a big difference when you place it on top after all ingredients have been added. Rather than using a weight in each of my 1 quart jars, I insert a plastic spacer and put the lid of the Mason jar on very loose keeping everything submerged. During the fermenting stage I have to top up at least once a day so that it’s just dribbling out when it starts to bubble. When fermenting is done I take the spacer and rye bread out, fill it to the top with the correct salt water and put it in the fridge and it’ll last for 8. to 10. months. Thank you for an amazing recipe – It’s much simpler than the others that I have looked at and in my opinion these dills are as good as you can get in any New York delicatessen.
Jess, I’m not real wild about using raw garlic in an anaerobic environment owing to the risk of botulism. Could the garlic be roasted first?
I think you forgot to mention the bread in the recipe? Is that rye or sourdough in the top of the jar?
My grandfather made sunshine fermented pickles. He used heavy glass jars with glass lids and heavy wires that healed the lid in place. He would lay the jars on their side in the sun for about a week. No one left in the family has the recipe so I was thrilled to see your recipe. We are in Arizona for the winter and I’m trying your recipe. I brought the two jars in for the night as it will get cold. I have them standing on
a small table in the sun during the day. I will let you know if it works. If nothing is happening in three days due to the cooler weather I will ferment them on the kitchen counter. I will take longer but should still work.
I loved the special flavor of those pickles. Bubbies pickles that you can buy come closest to that flavor but has an additive.
Of all the recipes on line – this is the go to for old style Fermented Dill Pickles. The Pickles you have with a Smoke Meat Sandwich and a Cherry Coke or a nicely done Rib Eye steak.
I have been making Jess’s style of pickles for the last few years and have not changed a thing – well maybe a little extra garlic, but that’s it. The exact taste you would get from a Kosher style pickle from Kravitz’s Steak House, Schwartz’s Delicatessen or Katz’s Deli in NY.
Jess……You nailed it! Thankyou
Good One