lacto fermented cucumbers - a question

[bernardsmith]

Recently brine pickled some store bought mini cucumbers and the pickles are delicious. Used the same brine concentration and the same herbs and horseradish leaves (for tannins) for some cucumbers I grew in my garden but the cucumbers taste bitter in a way that is unpleasant. I wonder if the problem might be that the skins are too tough for the brine to pull out the liquid in the cucumber and for the flavors in the brine to saturate the vegetable. I sliced one or two and with another couple I cut off the tip and tail to see if that might enable the liquids to enter and exit. But has anyone had a similar experience? I could not finish one I tried last night. And I LOVE pickles.. Thoughts.

 

[Tartan1]

I've been fermenting pickles from home grown cukes for a few years now and a couple of thoughts came to mind. You mention cutting off the stem and blossom ends, was this before or after fermentation? I've always cut the blossom ends off when preping them for fermentation. Something in the blossom end if left on affects the end results of the pickles. Also what % salt water brine are you using, I stick with a 3% brine using (Himalayan) or course pink salt. Also what PH did they finish off at, depending on room temp mine can take anywhere from a few days to a week to ferment out. Mine usually start out about 5.8ish and end off 3.8 when done, as long as they are below 4. Tried something different this year, added pickle crisp (Calcium Chloride) and seemed to keep them a bit more on the crunchy side.
Hopefully you have enough cukes left over in the garden to give it another go.

 

[bernardsmith]

My brine was closer to 5% and I don't normally cut the blossom end off. I thought that people suggest that they do that to keep them firm but I add bay leaves and horse radish leaves if I have them for tannin or add tannin if I don't. I generally place mine in the fridge after about a week. And normally, they are very delicious but the skins on these cucs is as tough as leather.

 

[Oldskewl]

I have a variety in the garden this year that is a thin/straight variety(similar to an English variety) that the name escapes me atm. About 50% of the cucumbers that I pick off those vines have a bitterness to them that is unpleasant. After searching it is caused by lack of water and/or nutrients in the soil. I have experienced this in the past with the first couple cucumbers off the plant but never such a large number of them. I have been sampling a slice or two off the end before I make pickles out of it.

 

[Yooper]

My brine was closer to 5% and I don't normally cut the blossom end off. I thought that people suggest that they do that to keep them firm but I add bay leaves and horse radish leaves if I have them for tannin or add tannin if I don't. I generally place mine in the fridge after about a week. And normally, they are very delicious but the skins on these cucs is as tough as leather.

Make sure you always cut the blossom off before starting them- that's where the bitterness comes from.
I also use some pickle crisp (about 1/4 tsp per quart) in the brine.
I've never used really heavy skinned cucumbers, but my guess is that maybe that skin is bitter(?) and you're getting some rough flavor from them. Can you just taste the skin and see if that's the issue?

 

[Yooper]

I use a 5% brine, and here’s my latest (started yesterday) but I sliced the larger ones and left the smaller ones whole since they were “pickling cucumbers”

 

[bernardsmith]

Slicing them might be the better solution. Thanks, Yooper. I will have to try that. The bitter flavor is as if the insides were not being pickled - which is to say that the bacteria involved are not the ones I associate with lacto pickled vegetables.

 

[Yooper]

Slicing them might be the better solution. Thanks, Yooper. I will have to try that. The bitter flavor is as if the insides were not being pickled - which is to say that the bacteria involved are not the ones I associate with lacto pickled vegetables.

That could be from leaving the blossom ends on them, if the skin tastes good.