If you have access to potter’s clay and a kiln, why not fashion a weight to fit your crock and your taste? That’s what Rose Jaress did for her mom, Monica, at the suggestion of her dad, Gene, and with the help of her pottery teacher, Syd Shera of Seattle. About an inch thick, the weight has half-inch holes and a lovely handle in the form of a pickle.
Thanks, Monica, for sharing this photo.
Love it!
Hi Linda. Thanks to the courage gained from reading your books this winter, I’d like to try some lacto fermentation this summer and have access to some antique (1800’s) pickling crocks. Do you consider old crocks safe to use?
Michelle, I haven’t heard that any old crocks are unsafe. Old American crocks may in fact be better than new ones. All the crocks I bought new in the 1990s were poorly glazed, so that they leak. I recently acquired two very old crocks, however, whose glaze is completely intact.
You can judge the quality of the crock by carefully examining it, inside and out. Was the crock incompletely glazed to begin with, so that you can see unglazed portions? Is the glaze crazed, with small cracks all over? Is the crock itself cracked or chipped?