What Exactly Are Half-Sour Pickles?

Whether you're throwing together a sandwich at home or grabbing a burger at the diner there's always one ingredient that must be on the side — pickles. These tart little morsels are some of the best ingredients to add to egg salad and are a must-have condiment for anyone who wants to throw the perfect backyard barbecue. But there's more to a pickle than just popping a cucumber into a jar of vinegar and letting it sit in the fridge. While you might think these lip-puckering treats are all more-or-less the same, half-sour pickles have a unique fermentation process and can be quite hard to track down. 

Unlike dill pickles, which are often fermented in a vinegar brine, half-sour pickles are soaked in a salt wash that does not contain vinegar and is not heated. Like sour pickles, which are also made with salt solution, half-sours gain their sharp flavor from the gradual pickling process caused by fermentation. However, unlike full sours, which are usually left to sit for several months, half-sours are only fermented for around six to eight weeks. This gives them a mild, crisp flavor that's lighter and less tangy than other pickle types. The shorter fermentation time and the fact that the brine is not heat-treated means that half-sours are not shelf-stable like dill pickles or other vinegar-brined varieties that you find in the non-refrigerated section at the store.

You can make both dill pickles and sour pickles at home. Dill pickle brines are traditionally made with white vinegar, granulated sugar, salt, and water, with kosher salt being the preferred choice due to its clean, non-iodized taste. The vinegar is boiled, which enhances the brine's flavor and speeds up the pickling process, as well as making the pickles shelf-stable. Fresh dill is also a key ingredient and other spices like garlic, peppercorn, and mustard seed can be added.

This is where things get a bit confusing — you can also make sour and half-sour dill pickles by simply adding fresh dill to your salt brine. To make a salt solution, you just need to mix salt and water (roughly 3 tablespoons for 2 liters), along with any herbs and spices, and allow your cucumbers to steep in it fully submerged. This is where things get even more confusing — half-sours may sometimes be referred to as kosher dills, because of the kosher salt used. While Jewish immigrants in the 1800s did help popularize kosher dill pickles in New York City, the term "kosher" in this context refers less to Jewish dietary restrictions and more to the brine used, meaning that half-sours made with kosher salt are not necessarily kosher certified. 

Whether you're already a pro at ranking your favorite pickle brands or you're totally unfamiliar with terms like brining and fermentation, adding half-sour pickles to your grocery list is definitely worth a try. If you're feeling really brave, you can even try brewing some at home.