Polish Fermented Pickles

Since I shared about our experience visiting Farmer's Markets in Poland last week, I thought today I would share about what we made from something we purchased at the market.  Fermented Pickles of course! 

My father-in-law, the head of our operations in Poland, purchased the cucumbers at the market.  We sometimes struggle to find the right kind of cucumbers at markets or in stores here.  But there were plenty to choose from at a number of vendors booths at the market in Nowy Sacz.

When we got them home, we quickly set them to ferment.  While we more or less follow the recipe that comes included with our crocks, my father-in-law is much more of a "wild" fermenter.  He doesn't measure anything, but just puts in whatever he feels like!  While this is scary for some people, his pickles always taste amazing, so he must be doing something right!

You might be wondering what this fermenting vessel is that the pickles are in.  We are always looking for new products that are made in Poland.  To make sure that we only offer the best to our customers, we typically try the products ourselves for a while before we offer them for sale.  We are testing out a large glass jar that would come with our Luna Glass Crock Weights!  If it looks like something you might be interested in, send me an email - emily@stonecreektrading.com. 

After only 3 days, these pickles tasted amazing!  We had them with every meal, especially breakfast.  Breakfast in Poland is typically a savory meal consisting of bread, eggs and deli meats and cheeses.  So the pickles were the perfect complimentary taste!

While our 6 year old is not a fan of fermented pickles, our 18 month old couldn't get enough of her Dziadek's pickles.  She was not happy with us when we told her she couldn't have anymore.  If we would have let her, I think she would have eaten the whole jar on her own!

And even if we didn't have time to ferment some pickles ourselves while in Poland, we could have always bought some at the supermarket!  It was really cool to see 2 varieties of fermented pickles and fermented sauerkraut available in the produce section of one of the big supermarkets in town.  I'd love to see more of this here in the US!

Are all these photos of delicious fermented pickles making you hungry?  Then go make some for yourself!  We have lots of options of fermenting vessels for sale on the website.  If you want to follow the recipe for our version of Polish Fermented Pickles, you can check out an early blog post here where we shared the recipe we include with our crocks!  Enjoy!