Tursu - Turkish Fermented Pickles

12/07/2025

Tursu at the local market

I've always been envious of the vast array of pickles during my travels throughout Turkey. They have it down to a fine art not just aesthetically but in texture and flavour even more so. The more i delved into various traditional recipes the more i learnt and the more intriguing the world famous tursu became.

Here i'm sharing a basic recipe that can be used for any vegetables of your choice or a varied mix. The addition of dried chickpeas helps to kickstart the ferment and feed the good bacteria but also absorb any impurities to prevent your pickle brine from going cloudy. Its really works well.

The other addition is bay leaves of which taste great but are also high in tannins. These tannins will keep the vegetables nice and crisp throughout the fermentation process. In a nutshell the tannins will prohibit the acid created by the laco bacteria from breaking the cell walls of the vegetables down. You can also use tea leaves, vine leaves, oak leaves and horseradish leaves.

Pickled green almonds

Ingredients

500g approximately of mixed vegetables, chopped. I used red cabbage, peppers, chillies and green tomatoes

4 cloves garlic per jar, peeled

1 bay leaf per jar

Filtered water, enough to fill the jar and cover the vegetables

5 dried chickpeas per jar

juice of a lemon

Splash of cider or white wine vinegar

3% Sea or rock salt.

Method

Wash the vegetables, drain and roughly chop. Push and pack them tightly into a sterilised glass jar.
Add the peeled garlic, bay leaf, chickpeas, lemon juice and vinegar. place the jar on a set of weighing scales. Add enough water to cover the jar being sure to weigh the water.
Whatever the weight of the water is times this amount by 0.03 and this will give you the weight and percentage of salt needed. I'm working on adding 3% salt in this recipe. Add the salt and tightly screw a lid on top. Give the jars a gentle shake to help dissolve the salt.
Place the jars in a dark cool place like a cupboard or somewere out of direct sunlight.
Leave the pickles to ferment for 3 weeks being sure to shake the jar every second day.
After 3 weeks the pickles or now tursu is ready to eat. Once i open the jar and start eating the tursu i keep it in the fridge from then on. The tursu will last for up to 12 months unopened or 3 months opened and in the fridge.

12/07/2025