Fermented Pickle Brine

• The simplest of fermented pickles require just three ingredients -- salt, water and cucumbers. With this combination, you have all that is needed to create a pucker-worthy sour pickle in about a week, using fermentation to preserve the cucumbers well beyond their natural life. Add some dill, horseradish, mustard seeds or garlic and you can enhance the flavor of your finished product even further. Once the fermentation process is complete, this homemade brine is teeming with lactic acid created by the age-old process that uses bacteria present in the environment to turn the cucumber's sugars into acid and preserve the pickles safely.

Fresh Pickle Brine

• Fresh pickles are those that use vinegar as a means of preservation. These types of pickles use fresh cucumbers that are covered in a vinegar-based brine for several weeks to soak up the flavors before they are ready for consumption. Fresh pickle brine is typically made of primarily vinegar and water with other ingredients, such as salt, sugar and spices, added on a recipe-by-recipe basis. Fresh pickles often include a firming agent such as grape leaves, alum or pickling lime to help keep pickles crisp during extended storage.

Commercial Pickling Brine Basics

• In commercial pickling, vinegar, salt and water are all employed in the same manner to create the actual pickles. Commercially available fresh and fermented pickles may use only natural pickling ingredients or both natural and artificial preservatives to keep pickles fresh. These ingredients help improve the flavor, color and texture of pickles during extended storage both in stores and your home pantry.

Commercial Pickling Brine Ingredients

• Calcium chloride, pickling lime and alum are all common firming agents used to keep pickles crisp in commercial pickle brine. Sweet pickles contain any number of sweeteners such as honey, sugar, high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. Polysorbate 80 is a common solubilizer added to pickle brine to assist in dissolving ingredients in pickling brine. Sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite are also included in most commercial pickles and function as synthetic preservatives to keep pickles fresh. Most commercial pickles also contain a variety of both natural and artificial flavors and colors. Onions, garlic, dill and other spices and seasoning are common on the list of ingredients in many types of pickle brines to help lend flavor.