Susan, this is lactic fermentation, also known as wild fermentation. You’re creating an environment in which lactic acid bacteria flourish, this will kill off bad bacteria and preserve whatever needs preserving. Vegetables pickles this way can last for several years, although we tend to eat ours within months.

I find that Celery Seed is both an excellent flavoring and help with crispiness. Also, whole fermented cucumber pickles stay crispier longer than those you pre-slice (into spears or whatever).

I’ve had the best results with pickling cucumbers because of their firm skin that seems to hold things together well. I have had ok results with very small slicing cucumbers left whole, but my attempt at lemon cucumbers was a disaster of scraping mushy seeds off the spear (although my friends said they tasted great if you didn’t mind the scraping slimy seeds out part).

Last tip: Put in about 5 times as many whole garlic cloves as you think prudent, as they are delicious in and of themselves and when I put out a big plate of my homemade pickles, the garlic from the bottom of the jar always goes first.

As to this above – do you have to use pickling cucumbers? And if I don’t have access to any of the tannic leaves you recommended – what do you think might be commercially available at a health food store?