Categories: pickles
Ingredients
- 1 gallon medium-sized cucumbers
- 2 cups salt
- 1 gallon plus 1 qt. water, divided use
- 3 qt. vinegar
- 1 tsp. alum
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 Tbsp. pickling spice
- Additional sugar if desired for sweeter pickles
Directions
- Wash cucumbers and cover with a 10% brine (2 cups salt to 1 gal. water). Let stand in brine for 3 to 4 days, then drain.
- Each day of the next three days again cover the cucumbers with cold water, let them stand in water 24 hours, and again repeat the process.
- On the seventh day, slice the cucumbers and put them in a vessel. Cover with a vinegar and water solution (1 qt. vinegar, 1 qt. water) to which 1 tsp. of alum has been added.
- Bring cucumbers to a boil, but do not boil them. Let stand and cool. Remove cucumbers and discard the vinegar. Pack cucumbers into sterilized jars. Make a syrup, using 1 qt. vinegar, 2 cups sugar and 2 Tbsp. pickling spices. Simmer the syrup for 1 minute and pour it over the cucumbers. Then seal and process in boiling water for 5 minutes.
- If a sweeter pickle is desired, drain syrup from pickles, add 1 cup sugar, heat as before, and pour over the pickles. Repeat, adding 1 cup sugar to syrup each day until the pickles have the desired sweetness.