Quick sweet pickles

1 Recipe

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
8 pounds Pickling cucumbers (3- to 4-inch)
⅓ cup Canning or pickling salt
4½ cup Sugar
3½ cup Vinegar (5 percent)
2 teaspoons Celery seed
1 tablespoon Whole allspice
2 tablespoons Mustard seed
1 cup Pickling lime (optional)*
1,001 - 6,000 ft: 10 min.
Above 6,000 ft: 15 min.
1,001 - 6,000 ft: 15 min.
Above 6,000 ft: 20 min.
1,001 - 6,000 ft: 20 min.
Above 6,000 ft: 25 min.

Directions

*(for use in variation below for making firmer pickles) May be canned as either strips or slices.

Yield: About 7 to 9 pints

Procedure: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch off blossom end and discard, but leave ¼ inch of stem attached. Slice or cut in strips, if desired. Place in bowl and sprinkle with ⅓ cup salt. Cover with 2 inches of crushed or cubed ice. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours. Add more ice as needed. Drain well.

Combine sugar, vinegar, celery seed, allspice, and mustard seed in 6-quart kettle. Heat to boiling.

Hot pack--Add cucumbers and heat slowly until vinegar solution returns to boil. Stir occasionally to make sure mixture heats evenly.

Fill sterile jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. For more information see "Jars and Lids".

Raw pack--Fill jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Add hot pickling syrup, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process according to the recommendations in Table 1 or use the low-temperature pasteurization treatment. For more information see "Low-Temperature Pasteurization Treatment".

Variation for firmer pickles: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch off blossom end and discard, but leave ¼-inch of stem attached. Slice or strip cucumbers. Mix 1 cup pickling lime and ½ cup salt to 1 gallon water in a 2- to 3-gallon crock or enamel-ware container.

Caution: Avoid inhaling lime dust while mixing the lime-water solution. Soak cucumber slices or strips in lime water solution for 12 to 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from lime solution and rinse and resoak 1 hour in fresh cold water. Repeat the rinsing and resoaking two more times. Handle carefully because slices or strips will be brittle. Drain well.

Storage: After processing and cooling, jars should be stored 4 to 5 weeks to develop ideal flavor.

Variation: Add 2 slices of raw whole onion to each jar before filling with cucumbers.

Table 1. Recommended process time for Quick Sweet Pickles in a boiling-water canner.

Style of Pack: Hot. Jar Size: Pints or Quarts. Process Time at Altitudes of 0 - 1,000 ft: 5 min.

Style of Pack: Raw. Jar Size: Pints. Process Time at Altitudes of 0 - 1,000 ft: 10 min.

Style of Pack: Raw. Jar Size: Quarts. Process Time at Altitudes of 0 ~ 1,000 ft: 15 min.

======================================================= === * USDA Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539 (rev. 1994) * Meal-Master format courtesy of Karen Mintzias

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