Hi, I have a huge amount of pickling cucumbers to preserve.
Yesterday I made about 10 quarts of dill pickles processed in hot water bath... typical pasteurized method.

I'll be making bread and butter pickles too, on a friends' request who liked mine last year.

I also lacto-ferment food. I lacto-fermented some cucumbers, green beans, nasturtium seeds, radish, onions....

The cucumbers turned out fine in flavor, but the texture was not crisp...kind of mushy.

I have heard that sliced horseradish root thrown in the jar, topped with a horseradish leave cut or folded to fit on top, will help to keep the cucumbers crisp. Has anyone tried this? Or does anyone know what else I can do to keep lacto-fermented cucumbers crisp?

(And I do understand non-pasteurization. And I promise I won't let them sit around too long. I get that. The benefits of lacto-fermentation are interesting to me, and I will do it in small amounts for now, along with my pasteurized, dried and frozen food.)