Pickle Recipes: German Sour Pickle recipe

This recipe was taken from the German language Web site Spreewald-Info.com and translated into English.

Spreewald Sour Pickle Recipe:

You need:

- a 1.3 gallon (5 liter) ceramic pot
- 6.6 lb (3kg) of small, crunchy cucumbers
- 6 vine leaves
- 2 sprouts of dill
- 1 grape-vine
- a few leaves of a sour cherry tree
- Some fresh tarragon
- Onion rings
- 2 hands full of salt

Follow these steps:

- Wash, rinse and dry the cucumbers.
- Rubb them in salt and leave them like this over night.
- Cover the floor of the ceramic pot with the vine and sour cherry leaves.
- Tightly pack levels of cucumbers, sandwiching them with the onions, tarragon, and dill.
- Dissolve salt in water (6.67 ounces per gallon or 50 grams per liter)
- Pour the salty water over the cucumbers until they are completely covered.
- Cover the cucumbers with a wooden board or plate. The cover should not sit on the rim of the pot, but directly on the cucumbers, pressing them down.
- Place a 2 lb rock on the cover to weigh it down.
- Cover the pot with a cloth.

Leave the pot alone for 6 to 10 days. After that, put it in the refrigerator. The cucumbers now have a glassy-green surface and produce a sour odor. The water looks milky and produces a thin white foam. Take the foam off. The whole thing does not look very pleasant at all, but that's the way is has to be. However, the cucumbers are delicious!