Sweet Pickles ReVamped~ A more user friendly recipe

After using the altered cold packed sweet pickle recipe for over a year now with great success, I decided to repost it with my own changes, so as to make it easier to follow. These pickles have been a great hit with everyone who has tried them. Although there are several steps, it’s a fairly easy recipe and very much worth the effort.

Recipe~

We have worked this recipe every time in an 8 gallon butter churn crock. It’s size is ideal.

1/2 bushel fresh pickling cucumbers (approximately 4 inches long), cut into 1/4-inch slices

Water

3 cups pickling salt

1- 1.9 oz container alum

2 gallons cider vinegar

1- 1.5 oz container pickling spices

2 fresh heads of dill seeds

20 lb. sugar

DAY 1:

Place sliced cucumbers in a large non-reactive container (stainless steel or porcelain) and cover with boiling water. There will be a foam on the cucumbers for this first application of boiling water, but you will not have any foam after that.

Let cool then cover lightly with a towel. Do not put it on while the pickles are still hot or warm. This will cook the pickles and we don’t want that.

Let sit until Day 2.

The cucumbers do not have to be refrigerated during the process. You want the ingredients to be at room temperature and the liquid you pour over them to be at the boiling point when you are processing.

DAY 2:

Drain off water (do not rinse the pickles) and cover with fresh boiling water and pickling salt mixture.

(Pickling salt mixture = 1 1/2 cups pickling salt to 1 gallon boiling water).

DAY 3:

Drain off water/salt mixture.

Do not rinse the pickles after the salt step. Just drain the water mixture off and proceed to the next step.

Cover with fresh boiling water and alum mixture. 

(Alum mixture = 2 1/2 tablespoons alum to 1 gallon boiling water).

DAY 4:

Drain off alum water and discard.

Do not rinse the pickles after the alum step. Just drain the water mixture off and proceed to the next step.

Boil together enough cider vinegar and pickling spices to cover the cucumber slices.

 (1 gallon cider vinegar and 3 tablespoons pickling spices wrapped in cheese cloth or loose spices).

Pour prepared cider vinegar/pickling spices over the cucumber slices.

Recover top with a towel.

DAY 5, 6 and 7:

Let the cucumbers sit in the vinegar solution, covering the top with the towel to keep them clean. Stir once each day.

DAY 8:

Take cucumbers out of cider vinegar; drain off cider vinegar and throw away spice bag if you used one. I like the spices in my pickles. Some folks don’t. Drain pickles throughly. Coat pickles well with sugar. I am bit picky and pour my pickles into large bowls and stir them well, coating each pickle before returning it to the crock, but if your crock is large enough, pour the sugar directly onto the drained pickles a little at a time and stir well, making sure to coat them all. After refilling the crock( if you removed the pickles) pour enough sugar to cover the top of the pickles entirely. The sugar will pull the vinegar/spice solution out of the pickles and make the syrup.

DAY 9-12~ Stir once each day, adding sugar to cover pickles if needed.

Last Day~ Prepare sterlized pint jars, add pickles, pour syrup over pickles to cover. Seal with cap and rings. The jars will be preserved, but not sealed. Store in a cool, dry place. They are best if they sit for a couple weeks before eating, but they can be eaten immediately. These pickles will last a very long time preserved this way, but ours never seem to make it long before they disappear. They are best served chilled.