Salt-fermented dill cucumber

Concombres lacto-fermentés à l’aneth

What it is

No vinegar goes near them: a brine of roughly two percent salt lets the cucumber's own Lactobacillus turn its sugars into lactic acid, and the cloudiness in the jar is that culture, not spoilage. The horseradish leaf and root are not flavouring alone — their tannins inhibit the enzymes that soften pectin and would otherwise hollow the cucumbers out.

In the kitchen

Weight the cucumbers below the brine — anything that breaks the surface grows a film of kahm yeast. Two weeks at room temperature, then cold; left warm they go from crisp to soft in a matter of days.

Goes with

Dill Horseradish Garlic Potato Rye berries Crème fraîche Pork Mustard

Same species

Cantaloupe melon Cornichon Cucumber Honeydew melon Narazuke

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