I love half-sour pickles, and with all the cucumbers we've been receiving, there is nothing I want more with a sandwich. But store-bought pickles can get pricey. Luckily, I learned how to make them myself a few years ago, so now as long as I'm not too lazy, I can make them at home. You may want to tweak a few ingredients to your liking, the number of garlic cloves or the dill sprigs. The sourness depends on how long you're willing or able to leave the pickles on their own.

1 quart plastic deli container with lid

16 oz spring water, room temperature


2 tbsp Mortons Kosher Salt 

Approx 2 tbsp pickling spice (
If your pickling spice does not contain small whole dried red peppers, add a couple to your mix)

3 medium cloves of garlic


4-5 Kirby cucumbers, trimmed of stems


2 sprigs fresh dill

1. Add water and salt to plastic deli container. Place lid on tightly and shake vigorously to dissolve salt.


2. Add pickling spice, replace lid and shake vigorously.


3. Add garlic cloves.


4. Pack pickles vertically in the container, tightly so they don’t float.

5. Lay the dill frond on top of the brine. It doesn't need to be submerged.

6. Loosely place the lid on top-- DO NOT SEAL IT DOWN TIGHTLY. As the cucumbers ferment, they will give off gas, which will cause a sealed lid to bulge and possibly pop off unexpectedly. Poke small holes in the plastic lid to help with ventilation.


7. Leave the cucumbers out on your countertop (or in a window) for one day. The warmer temperature will help to activate the fermentation process.


8. Place pickles in the refrigerator. Placing the pickles in the fridge slows fermentation.

In my experience, I have new pickles after 2 days, half sours after three or four, and full sours after two weeks.