The Perfect Pickler, produces great tasting traditional pickles in just 4 days. Traditional open air crocks can take weeks to do the very same thing, and may give off unpleasant odors in the process, not the Perfect Pickler, it is a closed system thus produces no odors. Pickled vegetables, also known as live-cultured foods, are alive with probiotic bacteria that offer a wide array of health benefits, including improved digestion, enhanced immunity, and improved intestinal health.
Live-cultured vegetables are a part of the diets of many of the world's most long-lived people. Adding cultured vegetables to your diet is easy and inexpensive with the Perfect Pickler. The Perfect Pickler works through a low-salt fermentation method that uses just a bit of Celtic Sea
Salt®, packaged with it, spring water, vegetables, herbs and spices. Unlike most store-bought pickles that are fermented with vinegar and contain refined sugars, homemade pickles made in the Perfect Pickler are alive with friendly microflora, great for the digestive system, and bursting with vitamins, minerals and life-giving enzymes. You can make old-world style pickles right on your kitchen countertop in only four days! Add your ingredients to the Perfect Pickler on Monday, watch the magic bubbles through the week, and start eating by
Friday! The prep time is minimum, and the live-cultured, mouth-puckering beauties you create will stay fresh in your refrigerator for months to come.
Make traditional sauerkraut, gingery pickled vegetables, garlic-dill pickles, or sweet pickled onions. The Perfect Pickler is the easiest and most cost-effective way to add the delicious magic of cultured
foods to your diet.
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| Perfect Pickler 32 oz. Size |
Perfect Pickler 64 oz. Size |
Made of food safe PET Plastic. More on why this is safe below in the FAQ section.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Q: Is it safe to pickle using a plastic container?
A: We thoroughly researched the materials used in our unit. We chose a most stable resin call "P-E-T". This is the same material that has to hold very acidic carbonated soft drinks for months and still remain safe. On the other hand, natural spring water bottling companies also chose P-E-T as their container of choice.
We advise those concerned with plastic to use the Perfect Pickler™ only for the four days of primary fermentation, and according to our included instructions, transfer to your favorite storage containers for refrigeration.
If that does not alleviate your concerns, please contact us for more information and assistance.
Q: Is this form of pickling safe, where you do not sterilize the jar or boil the pickles?
A: Lactic acid fermentation using a salt brine is a naturally safe form of pickling. The resultant pickles have created their own naturally preserved brine. The important part of any food handling is good sanitation and safe food storage.
Use hot water and soap to wash all parts of the Perfect Pickler™ before starting a batch. You are required to store the finished pickles in the refrigerator.
Q: When pickling, I noticed the water inside the valve lock never did anything. Isn’t it supposed to?
A. First off, everything is working fine if the valve lock is not active. Over the years, since 1992, and umpteen pickler reworks and trials later, I have found that sometimes the valve lock works, and sometimes it just sits there without activity. BUT, each time it pickles like Ol' Faithful.
The main goal in low-fermentation pickling is just keep the bugs out of the mash while the resident beneficial bacteria are setting up their new home. The Perfect Pickler does that just fine.
To see if you can get the valve lock to work, you might unthread the lid and rub a little vegetable oil on the jar threads. Then gently and firmly tighten down the lid. When you insert the valve lock, push it down about a 1/2-inch or so until it is standing firm and upright.
Check your valve lock. If the shaft has a ridge along the shaft where it was molded to the other half, you can use either a sharp knife and carefully shave off this ridge, and/or use fine sandpaper to create a smoother shaft. Finally, put a little vegetable oil on the valve lock shaft and push it in.
Q: Why can’t I store my finished pickles with my canned vegetables in the pantry?
A: This type of pickling, low-salt fermentation, creates a preserved pickle only if refrigerated. Alternately, if you are considering room temperature stored vegetables, you need to check out canning and preserving options that are not a part of the Perfect Pickler™.
Q: I want to store my pickles in another container; do I keep them in the brine?
A: Yes, the brine is needed for your stored pickles.
Q: Can I do the entire pickle processing according to your instruction in the refrigerator instead at room temperature?
A: Maybe, but it would take a considerable amount of time. The optimum temperature is actually between 64 and 71 degrees as discovered hundreds of years ago by the Chinese. If you have a full cellar, the cooler temperatures will are preferred in the heat of summer. In the winter, find a place by using a thermometer that will locate a place in this pickling zone.
Q: My house can get warm in the summer. Will it effect the pickling?
A: If you don't keep your living space in the 70-75 degree range you can get mixed pickling results. If it is too warm, try this nifty trick: Put a medium or large blue ice block into an ice chest a few hours before you pickle. When you have loaded up the Perfect Pickler™, place it in the cooler. Keep the lid open, or off. Then, every 8-12 hours replace the ice block with a another frozen one. It keeps the pickles in the 65-70 degree range and they love that temperature. After 4 days, place in the fridge per the instruction book.
If you pickled in a setting that is too warm, you will usually find some mold and a musty smell. Discard and locate a cooler spot.
Q: What if my cellar temperature is cooler than 70 degrees?
A: Actually ideal temperature is within the 64 to 71 degree range. Pickling will occur in cooler temperatures, but it will take longer. There is usually some spot you can scout out in your home that will keep the temperature in this range. Use a thermometer and locate.
Q: I loaded the Perfect Pickler™ and after the four day countertop fermentation, I didn't see that anything happened.
A: Pickling activity occurs even if you don't see any overt activity. One bit of evidence during the four day primary pickling is the accumulation of tiny bubbles about the vegetables. They will collect and then rise to the top. If you gently tap the Perfect Pickler™, you can see them take off.
Also, the brine will begin to cloud up as the pickling activity creates billions of beneficial microbes.
As for the taste, the initial fermentation will produce a pickle flavor which will gain in flavor in the refrigerator over time. If it needs a herb flavor boost, you can add a sprig or two of thyme, oregano, parsley, etc. If you like garlic, chop and add. Red pepper flakes (about a 1/4-1/2 tsp) will intensify the flavor.
Q: Can I drink the brine?
A: Yes, you can drink the brine in the pickler. In fact, I saw where a football team drinks pickle juice instead of the electrolytic “ades” in those fancy bottles. Farmers of old used to drink a little pickle juice coming out of the fields to rejuvenate themselves.
However, discard the brine that may have seeped out of the pickler. (We add this caveat, because someone actually did drink the brine off the saucer!). You can also add brine to soup stocks or dispose of this rich microbial broth in your garden or compost.
Q: Can I reuse the Brine in another batch?
A: Using the entire pickling brine from a prior batch of pickles makes the next batch too sour. However, you can add 1/4 cup or so to re-seed your next batch. Some Old World recipes even call for floating a slice of sourdough rye bread on top! I have done so in the past, but it does not seem to increase the natural pickling action that occurs without any boosters.
Q: My pickles don’t taste the way I want them.
A: The Perfect Pickler™ embodies a forgiving, simple technology. You can alter the results of your pickles. Review pages 12-13 in the instruction booklet.
We have found everyone has their own ideal dill pickle flavor. There can be regional differences. Like beer or wine, there are always a range of flavors to suit individual palates.
Almost all commercial dill pickles are actually made by using a vinegar and brine method. But you actually have made a batch of salt brine cured dill pickles found in our instruction book. They have a milder flavor. In fact, they are called “half-sours,”. If you then add vinegar to taste, you will develop the taste of full-sour dill pickles. Add a quarter cup of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar (find at health-food stores) or a white vinegar and wait about 24 hours to taste the result. Once you find the tartness you like, write it into your recipe book for future reference.
• If too salty: pour off a quarter of the brine and refill with spring or filtered water.
• If too bland: add additional whole sea salt to the pickler. Re-taste after 4-8 hours and adjust again if needed.
• not spicy/garlicky enough: add more
• too spicy/garlicky: add more
Q: Sometimes my dill pickles are mushy after the four day pickling period
A: These recipes do not include chemicals that keep pickles crisp, which are aluminum based mineral compounds. Dill pickles will naturally soften. They are crispest just after picking is complete. If you like crisp dill pickles you can even eat them after only three days of primary fermenting. These are known as “half sours.” Otherwise, if the texture gets too mushy you can turn them into relish by mincing them up.
Mushy dills can also be caused for other reasons.
First possible source: Soft, older cucumbers. Always use the freshest vegetables when pickling. Old produce does not pickle well. If you can chose pickling cucumbers by hand, select those that still have bright green stems, and/or the flower is still attached.
Reject any that have small soft indentations or are greasy looking.
Sources of Cucumbers: Of late there is a new source of great pickling cucumbers. Be on the lookout for hydroponic cucumbers. Larger supermarkets are now offering them, as well as farmers markets. Because they are just picked, they make excellent pickles.
Publix® Supermarkets in the Southeast have a good year-round supply of cucumbers. They are called “salad cucumbers.” They are the traditional Kirby type that have no wax on them. In prepping the cucumbers for pickling be sure to lightly scrub under running water. Then nip both ends off each to exclude any resident yeast or molds that avoided the scrubbing process.
DON’T slice up raw cucumbers before pickling. You always salt-brine whole cucumbers, then slice them afterwards.
Slice off the very tips on both ends of the cucumber. There may be an enzyme present that softens them during pickling.
Q: I notice the flavor of the pickles change after they are out of the refrigerator for some time.
A: Your completed pickles never really stop fermenting! If you take them out of the fridge and leave them out to warm up, they will begin to pickle anew! This can cause a more acidic, more sour flavor. We take our pickles out of the refrigerator just before serving. Or make a pickle platter and keep under refrigeration. Try to keep the pickles under refrigeration until just before serving.
Q: I notice a white powdery substance on my pickles.
A. This is a harmless yeast, called Kahm’s yeast. It may yield a mild off flavor, but it will not hurt your batch. This can be caused by under-salting, or having a room too warm during primary fermentation.
Q: I use distilled water for pickling. I forgot to add some salt to the distilled water. Will this effect my pickling?
A: Distilled water makes water a reactive medium, wanting to return to a mineralized, balanced state. Unless you rebalance distilled water, you will get mixed pickling results. To balance this water add a teaspoon of unrefined sea salt, to a gallon of distilled water. This type of salt has had nothing done to it, no heating, no milling, no extractions. It is truly organic and highly suitable for salt pickling. Wait a few hours, then continue on the recipes per the booklet instructions.
Q: Can I add sugar to the recipe?
A: Traditional sweet and sour pickle recipes have you boil a vinegar and sugar brine and pour onto the cut up vegetables.
In considering the health benefits of culture active pickles, we want to consider a couple ideas. Adding sugar at the beginning of pickling (in the first four days of primary fermentation) would have the sugar interfering with this natural process.
And of course, boiling the sweet-sour brine would also destroy the culture.
To make make a sweet-sour dill pickle, we suggest you go through the primary four day fermentation for Garlicky Dill Pickles, then remove the pickles and slice into the shape you desire and place back in the Perfect Pickler™. Mix together 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup cider vinegar and drain off enough brine to replace with this sweet and sour mixture. Refrigerate, wait 24 hours and taste; adjust for sweet & sour as needed.
Q: Can I use regular table salt for pickling?
A: Table salt is a poor choice. It has extra chemicals in them, including iodine, which can effect the result. Better choices are as follows:
• very best: unrefined, unprocessed, unground sea salt. It looks moist, has irregular crystals, and is grey colored. You get the bonus of a whole spectrum of macro- and micro-minerals that go into solution and are made available to the microcultures. They metabolize them into a bonus mineral food supplement! You need to find at health-food or in specialty food stores.
• better: processed table salt that has no chemical additives on the list of ingredients.
• mixed results: - table salt without added iodine - “pickling salt” labeled salt. - “kosher salt” without iodine
Q: What about adding vinegar to my pickles?
A: Pickles in a vinegar based brine is one type of traditional pickling. There are at least two different styles of pickling: both the vinegar-based and what we make in the Perfect Pickler™, salt-based. A couple of generations have passed since pickling and canning the fall harvest were a necessary act for most families. We have lost the distinction of what "pickle types" there actually are.
Vinegar-based pickles are the most common form of pickling. Cut vegetables are submerged in just boiled vinegar brine. This process destroys the natural culture and rich enzymes. The acidic nature of denatured vinegar does the preserving. Salt, sugar and spices are added to flavor these pickles. These type pickles sit on the unrefrigerated supermarket shelves until opened.
Salt-based pickles actually create their preservative properties through the act of lactic acid fermentation. Live cultures that live on the vegetables react with the vegetable starches in the presence of sea salt and water. They proliferate into trillions of microbes within a few days. These lactic acid bacteria dominate and ultimately rule this universe in a jar. Their action lowers the pH of the brine to a point that no pathogens can survive. This is the same microbial activity found in a healthy human gut. They perform the very same tasks in the small intestine as in the pickling jar; they create a pH so low that no pathogens can proliferate.
Salt-based pickles are refrigerated after the initial room temperature fermentation. To a lesser degree you can find salt-based pickles in the refrigerated section of your supermarket or in some ethnic groceries where they actually float in a brine in the refrigerated section.
When it comes to adding vinegar in the salt-based pickles, there are at least two techniques. You can add some vinegar in the beginning, or at the end; after the initial four-day fermentation. You can used pasteurized vinegar or also consider raw, unpasteurized, unfiltered vinegar with all its culture still active. If you add vinegar in the beginning of the pickling process, use the pasteurized-it won't interfere with the natural fermentation. Or add either pasteurized or raw vinegar at the completion of fermentation. Add enough to round out the taste, starting with a tablespoon or so, wait several hours or a day, then taste and adjust if needed.
Interesting enough, many people taste salt-based pickles and think there is vinegar in it. This sour taste actually is produced without vinegar. You can munch a kosher dill pickle and pucker without the vinegar. Many modern pickle eaters actually taste a salt-based dill pickle and aren't familiar with the taste. They were weaned on the vinegar-based dills. In that case, you can adjust the flavor after pickling with the addition of vinegar.
Q: Pickling with fruit: is it possible? What does it taste like?
A: We are not familiar with the pickling of fruit. However, in traditional cuisines you will find fruit mixed with culture active foods such as salsas, chutneys, and other condiments. To employ beneficial microbes, use raw, unfiltered vinegar as the acid to these dishes.
We actually use grated apple in one of our sauerkraut recipes. There is a wonderful sweet-sour taste from the Apple-Ginger Kraut on page 16. We grate apple and mix it with the cabbage and it pickles beautifully.
Q: Can I pickle using regular cucumbers?
A: Regular cucumbers just don’t work in pickling. Also, it is important not to cut up cucumbers before they are pickled. Likewise with any summer squash, like patty pan or small zucchinis or crook neck squash should be left whole. Otherwise these soft vegetables turn mushy. I have found some miniature hydroponic vegetables that pickle very well. Look for them at farmers markets and larger supermarkets. They are pricey, but they will dress up a jar of homely vegetables.
For cucumbers you need the smaller Gherkin, or Kirby. In some parts of the country you will see them marketed as “salad cucumbers.” They are wax less, thin-skinned and not much longer than your middle finger. Recently hydroponic cucumbers have come to market. They pickle extraordinarily well, due to the fact they are so fresh. Most off-season cucumbers come from out of the country, and may be a couple weeks old. We make dill pickles usually only when they are in season or the hydroponic ones are available. We suggest not to make your initial batch as dill pickles, due to the fact that older cucumbers are hard to spot . If you find a source of cucumbers and want to know more, email us at info@perfectpickler.com
Bad Dill Pickle Department
Soft, Slippery Pickle
Caused by microbial action because too little salt was used.
Cucumbers were not covered with brine allowing bacteria to grow.
Blossom end of cucumbers left on and enzymes in them caused softening.
Cucumbers stored at too high a temperature during fermentation.
Hollow Pickles
Too much time elapsed between harvesting and pickling.
Hollow cucumbers float during washing and should be reserved for relishes or "chunk" style pickles.
Too strong or too weak brine during fermentation.
Temperature too high during fermentation. Recommended temperature 64°F - 74°F (24°C).
Shriveled, Tough Pickles
Too much salt was used.
Too much time elapsed between gathering and pickling .
Water contains too much calcium.
Dark Pickles
Iron or sulfur compounds in hard water may cause darkening.
Using ground spices can discolor pickles.
Using iodized table instead of pickling salt may cause darkening.
Bitter Pickles
Too much spice. Cucumbers had a dry growing season.
Moldy Pickles-Discard.
Produce not washed properly.
Fermenting temperature too warm.
Q: Sauerkraut was too dry; I couldn’t get much juice when pounding it.
A: There could be two probable causes. Cabbage storage could have dried out the cabbage. The best way to choose cabbage is to pick it up; it should feel heavy for its size. If it doesn’t, don’t pickle it. If you cut open and there is a lot of space between leaves near the core, it is better to not pickle, or use this cabbage in the salt-brine recipes
There are two main growing seasons for cabbage, spring and fall. The preferred season to make sauerkraut is fall, where shortening days and cool temperature produce sweet, densely packed leaves. Spring cabbage is ripening in longer, warmer days which can dry it in the fields.
If you did not get enough juice from salting and pounding your cabbage, you can moisten it a little with a brine, using a 1/2 tablespoon unrefined sea salt with 1 cup of filtered water. Or if you have a little brine left over from a batch of kraut or vegetables use that. Use just enough to moisten so that when you push down on the spacer lid you will see the brine exude from the cabbage. Then follow the steps on page 8-9 of the instruction book to complete.
Q: My sauerkraut is crunchy, not soft.
A: This traditional low-salt fermentation keeps your cabbage crisp. It will soften a bit over time, but it will always be a bit crunchy.
If you like to make it less crunchy, use a mandoline style slicer set at 1/8-inch or less. It is nearly impossible to hand-cut such a fine shred.
The sauerkraut will soften if you cook, but it will lose the enzymes and beneficial bacteria.
Q: Do I need to blanch snap beans?
A: For low-salt fermentation, such as with the Perfect Pickler, green beans and corn need to be blanched for five minutes or so.
Snow peas and sugar-snap peas if still fresh and edible out-of-hand, do not require blanching.
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