I pretty much did the same thing back in the day. Even when I moved into the office, it was hard not to do side remodel jobs for people because the money was stupid good. Construction work on the side is the way to go.
That's hilarious. Etsy translates automatically to French for me, so it said "Pickle Fâché" and "Pickle tranquille" Looks like good stuff !
Basically two kinds of picking processes for cucumbers.: Use acetic acid (vinegar) direct or run a lactic ferment. The latter are noted by cloudy brine, needing refrigeration, enhanced flora for intestinal health... and better taste. But what do I know? I do like the artwork, and I wouldn't be surprised that these are tasty as well.
Buy some. Looks like he's still waiting on his first sale. Imagine the impact your comments could have on his business.
Do cucumbers not ferment enough to drop the ph much? Only experience I have is with peppers, but one of the major benefits of making a fermented hot sauce is (usually) the fermentation drops the PH low enough to make it shelf stable without using any acid.
They will get very sour (ph<3). The acidity -stability is more related to Clostridium. If you don't reefer them, the ferment continues, they get too sour, and the structure of the pickle breaks down. Soft pickels are not as good as snappy ones.
So they aren't refrigerated for safety, they're refrigerated to stop/slow the fermentation process to preserve the condition you want the pickles in... That makes more sense. I guess it doesn't really matter with peppers (at least up until now for me) because they've all been ground up into hot sauce.. I wonder if just straight pickled peppers would have a similar issue. Sounds like I'll have to try it.
