The words of the trade, defined by the documents that use them

This page gathers the working words of brining and vegetable fermentation as the accepted publications actually print them. Each definition below belongs to the publication named beside it. Where a common word of the trade appears nowhere in those publications, this page says so plainly rather than inventing a definition.

Brine is the salt-and-water solution the publications name

Clemson, in HGIC-3100, defines brined pickles as pickles going "through a curing process in a brine (salt and water) solution for one or more weeks." The brine here is both the medium of fermentation and the preliminary soak. The National Center for Home Food Preservation uses the same word for the topping-up solution called for in some of its recipes, made with 1½ tbsp of salt per quart of water, and for the liquid in which sauerkraut ferments (NCHFP-Kraut). One word, then, covers the fermentation liquid, a covering liquid, and a short presoak; the publication in hand tells you which sense applies.

Curing is the fermentation phase itself

The NCHFP writes, in its general pickle material: "Regular dill pickles and sauerkraut are fermented and cured for about 3 weeks. … During curing, colors and flavors change and acidity increases." Curing is not a separate step after fermentation; it is the fermentation, watched over until color, flavor, and acidity have shifted. Oregon State's PNW 355 agrees in its own words: "Brined (fermented) pickles require several weeks of 'curing' at room temperature." The national guide prints about 3 weeks; PNW 355 says several weeks without giving a figure. The two are not in conflict, and no accepted source publishes a different count.

Fresh-pack pickles skip fermentation entirely

The NCHFP defines the category by contrast: "Fresh-pack or quick-process pickles are not fermented; some are brined several hours or overnight, then drained and covered with vinegar and seasonings." PNW 355 adds the timing from the cook's side: these pickles are "made in one or two days by adding acid in the form of vinegar." Two other names, quick-process pickles and quick pickles, appear in the sources for the same category. The acid comes from vinegar rather than from microbial action, which is the whole distinction the publications draw.

Acidified food is a regulatory term, not a kitchen term

The Code of Federal Regulations, at 21 CFR 114.3(b), defines acidified foods as "low-acid foods to which acid(s) or acid food(s) are added… They have a water activity (a_w) greater than 0.85 and have a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below. These foods may be called, or may purport to be, 'pickles' or 'pickled ______.'" This is the language of regulation, with thresholds and a finished-equilibrium measurement, and it belongs to a different register from the kitchen vocabulary above. A home cook reads it to know that the word "pickle" carries a legal meaning in commerce; the kitchen terms brine, curing, and fresh-pack do not.

Water-bath canning stops what fermentation started

PNW 355 describes the procedure: "Arrange the filled jars on the rack of a canner filled halfway with very hot water (140°F for raw-packed foods, 180°F for hot-packed foods). Add more very hot water… to bring the water level up to 1 to 2 inches above jar tops… When the water boils, set a timer for the recommended time." The equipment, from the same publication, is any large container with "room for at least 1 inch of water to briskly boil over the tops of jars during processing," used with a rack at the bottom. The stated purpose for pickles is blunt: "Pickles are processed to stop fermentation and the growth of bacteria that cause spoilage" (PNW 355). Canning, in this vocabulary, is the ending of the process, not part of the fermentation.

Headspace and weight have printed values and printed consequences

Headspace is "the space between the packed food and liquid and the top of the jar" (PNW 355). Every recipe in this manual's source material uses ½ inch, "unless otherwise specified" (PNW 355). The same publication prints what goes wrong when the measurement is off: too little headspace and the jar siphons, losing liquid and failing to seal; too much and the air is not driven out during processing.

A weight is defined by its job: "A weight keeps fermenting food under the brine" (PNW 355). The published devices are a flat plate or pie plate slightly smaller than the container opening, weighted with two or three quart jars filled with water, or a large food-grade bag filled with brine (PNW 355; NCHFP-Containers).

The published word is scum, and the published orders are to remove it

During fermentation a film forms at the surface, and the accepted publications call it scum. The NCHFP states the cause: "Wild yeasts and bacteria that feed on the acid thus reducing the concentration if allowed to accumulate" (NCHFP-Problems). The instruction follows in its dill pickle directions: "Check the container several times a week and promptly remove surface scum or mold" (NCHFP-Dill). Colorado State, in its sauerkraut material, describes a "white or pink yeast scum" that "can be removed and discarded" (CSU-Sauerkraut).

Other words in wide circulation among fermenters are not printed in these sources. This is worth stating term by term, because the reader who searches elsewhere will meet them:

• Airlock: not found. None of the accepted sources defines or recommends an airlock. The published devices for keeping food under brine are the weighted plate and the brine-filled bag; the clean, heavy bath towel is the published cover of the container, against insects and molds (NCHFP-Containers; PNW 355).
• Kahm yeast: not found. The expression appears in none of the accepted sources. The published term for the surface film is scum, as defined above.
• Pellicle: not found in the accepted sources consulted.

A short index of the terms and their owners

What this page does not say: it gives no temperature, timing, or salt ratio beyond those printed verbatim in the definitions above, and where the NCHFP and PNW 355 describe curing with different lengths of time, it reports both without choosing. It does not say whether scum is safe to touch, how much scum is too much, or when a batch should be discarded; the sources quoted here do not publish those judgments, and this page does not supply them.

Sources of the figures on this page

• National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia, General Information on Pickling, adapted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, revised 2015, reviewed February 2018. The four classes of pickled product, the 5 percent vinegar requirement, and the prohibition on altering proportions.
• National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia, General Information on Fermenting, adapted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, AIB 539, revised 2015. What the salt does in a ferment, and the prohibition on reducing it.
• Office of the Federal Register and the Food and Drug Administration, Title 21, Part 114, Acidified Foods, sections 114.3, 114.80 and 114.90, source 44 FR 16235, March 16, 1979; section 114.80 amended 80 FR 56144, September 17, 2015; CFR edition 2024. The regulatory definitions, the 4.6 equilibrium pH that separates an acidified food from a low acid one, and the 4.0 measurement rule.
• National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia, Causes and Possible Solutions for Problems with Fermented Pickles, adapted from So Easy to Preserve, sixth edition, 2014. The published table of defects and their causes, and the instruction to discard.
• National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia, Suitable Containers, Covers and Weights for Fermenting Food, extracted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, AIB 539, revised 2009. One gallon of capacity per five pounds of vegetable, the plate and jar weight, the brine filled bag, and one to two inches under the brine.
• Oregon State University Extension Service, Pickling Vegetables, PNW 355, by Jeanne Brandt, revised July 2019, reviewed 2024. Equipment, water, salt and vinegar, the fermentation procedures and seventeen tested recipes.