Make your pickles in crocks, bowls, and jars made of ceramic, glass, or wood. Don’t use metal, a reactive material. You can even reuse jars from store-bought pickles, tomato sauce, etc.

There are several plastics that are food-grade and considered safe: either use a #2 HDPE food-grade plastic bucket or just stick to glass and ceramic crocks or jars.

Wash your jars before use as you would any other kitchen item. In a home kitchen, it’s not necessary to sanitize your pickling vessels as you would if you were canning.

Tap water often contains chlorine, which kills bacteria. When making a vegetable ferment like dill pickles, bacteria are critical to a good outcome, so filtered water (no chlorine) provides a stronger guarantee of success.

There are two easy ways to get around using filtered water: (a) Boil water, then let it cool to room temperature, or (b) Let the water sit uncovered for at least 30 minutes, but ideally several hours, to let the chlorine evaporate. We’ve had success with both of these methods, but if we have easy access to filtered water, that's the preferred option.

Salt regulates the fermentation process, helping to create a mini ecosystem that encourages the growth of good bacteria and inhibits the growth of bad bacteria (which cause vegetables to spoil). Salt also draws out water from the vegetables, concentrating their flavors and keeping them crunchy.

There’s no need to purchase special “canning” or “pickling” salts. Any non iodized salt will do (iodine is known to inhibit the growth of all bacteria, good or bad). We recommend Diamond-Crystal brand kosher salt. Sea salt is also a pickling favorite.

For saltwater pickles, the ratio of salt to water in your pickling brine matters and is a major key to pickling success. Our recipes stick to a 3.5% to 5% salt solution for fermented pickles. As you pickle in larger and larger batches, you’ll start weighing your salt and measuring against the weight of water to recreate the right salt percentage.

For dry-salting recipes like sauerkraut or sauerruben, the salt ratio is 3 tablespoons kosher salt to about 5 pounds vegetables, according to the USDA.

The produce you select for pickling should be the freshest available. Generally, the smaller the cucumber, green bean, or radish, the better. Smaller veggies will be less watery and thus will have a more concentrated flavor and better crunch. So be that annoying person who picks through the produce looking for the perfect cucumbers or green beans at the grocery store (or better yet a farmers market).

If you use vegetables that look limp and uninspired, you will get a limp and uninspird pickle. It’s that simple.

When fermenting in a wide-mouth mason jar, place the silicon lid (pickle pipe) atop the jar’s mouth, and then screw the metal band on tightly to keep it in place. The pickle pipe’s nipple will allow the CO2 that builds up during fermentation to be released while keeping out any oxygen, which is imperative for good pickling results.

If you’re fermenting sauerkraut or any other vegetable that won’t easily stay below the brine line, place the pickle weight atop the vegetables to press them down into the brine. Add the silicon pickle pipe on top of the jar and screw the metal band on tightly.

Note: creating a seal for fermented pickles is NOT canning. The process of canning uses heat to destroy bacteria. There’s no heat used here and there’s no risk of botulism, which is associated with canning.

The temperature of your kitchen can make or break a batch. Warmer temperatures speed up the fermentation process and cooler temperatures slow it down. In warmer temperatures, be sure to monitor your creations closely. In the case of cooler temperatures, cultivate patience and plan ahead for longer fermentation times. A good, moderate temperature is somewhere in the range of 65° to 75 F.

Patience is the most critical ingredient. The process of fermentation involves waiting as the bacteria do their work, tasting your experiments along the way, and sometimes more waiting until your perfect pickle is achieved. After the appropriate number of days, when your pickles are at their desired flavor point, place the jar in the refrigerator to stop (or at least slow to a near halt) the fermentation process.

White yeast or mold commonly forms on the surface of lacto-fermented vegetable brines and is perfectly harmless. Just spoon it off and the vegetables should be good to eat.

On the off chance that you find black, pink, or green fuzz on the surface of your brine or on your vegetables, toss the batch. If the smell is funky or otherwise off (you’ll know, trust us), you may have to jump ship and start over. The more you ferment, the better you’ll learn to interpret the odors and colors that tell you what’s going on in your jar.

The tannins naturally present in picking partners like bay leaves, horseradish leaves, currant leaves, grape leaves, oak leaves, tea leaves, etc. help keep fermented vegetables crunchy by inhibiting an enzyme (pectinase) that is known to soften cucumbers. Soaking cucumbers in ICE WATER before pickling also helps firm them up before the fermentation magic begins.

With any brined pickles, white sediment can form at the bottom of the jar as a by-product of lacto-fermentation. Don't worry--it’s healthy. If the sediment is shaken up, it can make the brine look cloudy, which is fine.

Don’t be afraid of blue garlic in your lacto-fermented experiments. Garlic contains a special enzyme that turns it bluish-green when exposed to copper and aluminum, both of which are found in most tap water.