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