OK, I've freeely admitted I'm a bad pickle (maker!!). I want to try these, but have a couple questions:

'Pour boiling water over pickleing cukes for 4 days' Only once, or every day for 4 days?

Once I've made the syrup, do I reheat the syrup daily (for 3 days) & reimmerse the cukes until the next reheating?

Sorry to be so dense, but if you had my record, you'd want to be sure too!

THANKS

Fresh boiled water every day. The syrup is drained off and reheated each day and then poured back over the cucumbers.

Bejay, I don't know how well the flavor will penetrate small whole ones. I have never tried it. If you try it, be sure to prick them with a fork. I hear that helps with the flavor.

OK, Linda Lou, this will be my first night of syrup on the pickles instead of water. Hold your breath......

Annie

Ok, I will ! If they don't turn out, I am in BIG trouble, I know,LOL. Honest, I have never had them fail on me, but many years ago, I remember one batch that didn't make it for my mom. I know Shirley uses this recipe, too.

I acquired this recipe 30 years ago and am using the same recipe card I printed way back then. Maybe in my haste I missed something. My recipe does not have the spices tied in a bag for removal before canning. Ocassionally some chunks have a brownish color on the fleshy part. I'm sure this is caused by the loose spices in the jar. It in no way affects the taste. I'll be making a batch this weekend.

I forgot to add that I will be tying the mixed pickling spices in a bag.

Annie, I finally canned my first batch yeasterday. They still had some crunch to them before adding the pickle crisp. So I'll see later today if the pickle crisp helped them but the flavor is really good.

As you know from my other posts I haven't made a batch of sweet pickles yet that haven't turned out all shrunken and shriveled. But so far they are looking good :) I know you said you make terible pickles...but did you mean flavor or texture?

Linda Lou do you put these in quart jars or pints, and many does this make?
I'm on my fourth day of water.

Paige

Another dumb question.... (I've never tried pickles before, but this one is calling out to me!)

Do you pack the pickles in the canning jars and pour the syrup over them again?

lexilani, my pickles always taste great. However, they are always soft, mushy, icky. Always. I've tried soaking in lime, I've tried alum, I've tried grape leaves, I've tried using bottled water.

Still, whenever I bite one of my pickles, it just goes "squish".

Annie

Annie,
That's the pits when you put all that hard work and not to mention ingredients into something to have it turn out like that!

I just sampled the first batch after canning yesterday....YAY!!! they are sweet ... they are crunchy...just perfect ...after all the sweet pickles I just made and they were such a mess...if I can do it with Linda Lou's recipe then I know you can Annie.
Be sure to let us know how they turn out.

Yeah, another success ! Oh, I love to hear the good stories. Makes me feel proud, like a Momma !
Lexilani, I am glad they are good pickles.

Yes, they are packed into the jars at the end of the days of soaking in the syrup. Then boil the syrup, pour over, add pickle crisp if you want, seal and process in the boiling water bath canner.
I can mine in pints. Wide mouth jars so they are easier to pack into the jars and remove after you open them.
Hmm, I don't remember how many jars it makes. I usually make a double or triple batch at a time. It will depend upon how large your cucumbers are,too. I just make batches of syrup until they cover the cucumbers I have.

Shirley, years ago I had some that looked sort of brownish in the middle. I stopped adding alum that the original recipe called for. No more browning. It will only work with fermented pickles to keep them crisp, anyway.
Now, the new pickle crisp,that seems to make them crispier.

Thanks for sharing this recipe--I have a LOT of cukes. One final question--how big are the 'chunks'?

Thanks,

Con.

My recipe for Sweet Chunks varies slightly. I used 30 pickles 4 inches long. Pour boiling water over and repeat for 3 more days. On day 5, drain and cut into chunks. Place chunks in glass gallon jar or stainless steel pot. Add boiled syrup and let stand for 2 days. On the third day, drain, remove spice bag and heat the syrup. Place pickle chunks in jars and fill with syrup. Process in HWB. This should yield about 6 pints. The syrup ingredients are the same as Linda Lou's recipe. I don't use alum or pickle crisp.

Elvis,
When I sliced the cukes before adding the syrup on day one of soaking in syrup I wasn't very uniformed about it. My slices are all different...I have some that are about 1/4 inch up to about an inch or more.

In the jar I opened the day after canning even the thin slices were crunchy. My next batch I will pay more attention and seperate the slices into different jars. I tried the thin ones on a tuna sandwhich and it gave that tuna a whole new zing!

I don't think it matters what size the chunk pickles. Different shapes make for easier filling of the jars. I am on day 2 of the boiling water. All the pickles are small dill size. I'll probably cut them into half inch slices.

I'm on the third day of my second batch of these pickles. This batch has a layer of white scum (for lack of a better word) on them the day after I add the boiling water. Do I need to rinse this off? Is this normal?

OK, I just canned my first batch. I took a jar to work, I guess they were a hit because they are all gone. They stayed pretty crunchy, but I used the Pickle Crisp in them. They were a little soft in the middle but I think it's because my cukes were so big this year.

Ashley and her friends sat around and ate three jars of them on Saturday with sandwiches and chips, so I have batch two sitting on the counter.

Thanks, Linda Lou, my first pickle that doesn't go "moosh" when I bite them. I did cut the first batch into pretty big chunks, about an inch thick, so I'm going to do this batch about half that size.

Annie

Oh, Annie !!! Another pickle success story !!! Really, I am very happy. Wow, the girls must like them to eat that many. Then, a nice compliment to you to have the folks at work eat them all gone. SEE, I told you you could do it !!! Yeah Annie !
Mine have the scum, too. We washed them off, washed the pot and boiled fresh water. Tomorrow ours goes into the syrup. Oh, I am going to use my crinkle cutter on them. First time to make them fancy like. We cut slices about 5/8 of an inch thick.
I think tuna is the best with these pickles. I mix my tuna with a little light cream cheese, and some mayo. Makes it really good.

Linda Lou, my daughter Amanda HATES mayo or salad dressing, so she's been chopping up these pickles, mixing them with tuna and eating it on salad greens. Ashley was just dipping slices out of the contain while they were still in brine.

Mine had that "scum" too, with the boiling water. Tonight I'll drain the pickles and wash my container well.....

Annie

We always "sample" them in the brine. Have to be sure they are good enough to process.
I LOVE mayo. I can eat it out of the jar, it is that good to me. That is really one of my major downfalls. Wish I didn't like it so well. I sometimes chop some up in my green salad, too.
Ours went into the syrup today. They were so hard skinned, they were hard to cut. Will make good crispy pickles.

LOL, Linda Lou, I remember you saying that you sampled them before you canned them.

However, the constant parade of pickle snitching teenagers on their way out to the pool made a significant dent on the pickle supply and I ended up with only 9 pints after canning.

Mayo I can take or leave.....

Annie

Linda Lou,I canned my pint jars yesterday and they were so good.
I didn't think I was going to have enough to put in the jars cause my DH and I kept eating while I was trying to put them in the jars.
You was right,they are wonderful.I didn't use the pickle crisp and mine was still very crisp.
Thank you again for a great pickle recipe,will be making again this week.
Paige

I'm on the second day of syrup and some are looking very shrivelled. I hope they're ok. I'll see how they turn out. Maybe my salt measure was a little bit rounded?

I've never liked sweet pickles so I won't be devastated if they don't turn out, but I look forward to trying them. They smell really good.

Melva, normally if they shrivel, they aren't going to turn out. You cut them up, into chunks, right? I am asking because a friend of mine didn't and that is when her batch shriveled all up.
I hope yours are fine. If you have any questions, ask away.

Mine turned out really well, except some were hollow in the middle. I ate a couple for breakfast on Ritz crackers with cream cheese.

Hi, Linda Lou!!

Annie

Hi, Annie ! Have you rested from your company? As energetic as you are you probably didn't skip a beat.
Can't say I eat the pickles for breakfast, but why not?
If they are hollow, it was the cucumbers themselves normally, the way they grew.
My friend here FINALLY got a batch of the pickles to turn out. She would do the craziest things to them. I can't figure out why she couldn't seem to follow the directions. She called me or emailed me every day this time, LOL !
I was sitting here looking at your Annie's Awesome Salsa recipe. Not sure I have the cumin. I was just at the store last night, too. I have a big bowl of tomatoes on the counter plus some unripe ones in a bag that my husband picked last night.
I feel so lazy today. My grandbaby was here yesterday and I think he wore me out.

No, I sure didn't cut them into chunks. And yes, they are gross, I just tried one. I should have realized that you guys weren't sampling whole cukes out of the syrup. :-)

When I was starting them on Sunday, I decided at the last minute to only do 12 sweet pickles and 24 crock dills, instead of the reverse as I had planned. Glad I did, the fermented dills are great. And now I don't have to can them tomorrow afternoon. My mom is here for the weekend so we can spend our time eating Annie's salsa and kosher dills. Next year maybe. Thanks for nipping it in the bud Linda Lou!

Time to lay off canning and hit the books, until applesauce. Looking forward to seeing some recipes on here as apples start coming in. I do go to a big apple buttering in October, but it's just cooking and stirring all day, the peeling & canning comes before & after. They make it in a 55-gallon drum over a fire and all the apples don't even fit into the barrel to begin with. Old timey and definitely not up to USDA snuff, but it's fun.

Melva, we all learn by our mistakes and the mistakes of others. Glad you didn't lose all your pickles.
If you want to try them another time, then you will know what to do to fix the problem.
Enjoy your time with your mom !

HI Linda Lou - I am looking forward to trying these pickles this week. I've read everyone's comments and just want to make sure I'm understanding the process of your recipe. Please bare with me.

What size cukes are the best to use? 4"-5"? longer than that?

When I am doing the boiling water process, they are not to be cut at this stage, right? Can I trim the ends or leave them?

Someone talked about a scum forming? Why would that have happened other than the hot water itself?

Would processing the pickles in BWB for 10 min not make them mush?

Thanks:)

I use cukes about 4 inches long. They are not cut into chunks until the day they go into the syrup.
The impurities in the cukes makes the scum. Leave the ends on the cukes until you cut into chunks.
Water bathing them does not make them soft at all.
All foods must be canned in some manner,even jams, jellies and pickled foods.

Thanks for the info Linda L. I will be starting them tonight. We never "can" our dill pickles. When we pack them in jars and hot syrup, we only put them in the BWB until they turn color and we remove them immediately. Have done this for years with a high success rate of both a crunchy pickle and a sealed jar. Different methods for all of us.

What exactly is canning salt and where do I find it? Do you buy or do you have to make pickle spices?

Also, do I have this right? I boil my jars, lids, rings how long? 10 minutes? I don't have a 'canner' thing with a rack so can I sit the filled jars on the bottom of a 20 qt. pot I have or should they not touch the bottom? And for a BWB is the water covering the the jars?

Canning salt is a pure salt without the additives of table salt. It weighs 7 3/4 ounces per cup while table salt weighs 10 ounces per cup.

As you can see, if table salt were substituted for canning salt in equal measure, what you made would be far too salty. Also, the anti-caking ingredients in table salt can alter the color and clarity of pickling syrups, etc.

If you're in an area where people do make pickles and such, then canning salt should be available in the same section of the grocery where other salts are found. Green box, if it's Morton's. If you don't see it, ask the store manager. It sometimes is stocked with canning jars and supplies. Also, it can be ordered online.

Pure kosher salt, like Diamond Crystal can be used in a pinch or sea salt as long as the label says "salt" and nothing else.

Pickling spices do come pre-mixed and should be in the grocery section with other spices or alternatively, may be with the canning supplies. In some stores you can get it in the bulk bins, which is definitely cheaper. Or you can mix your own. There's another thread on the forum which provides a recipe. Just enter pickling spice in the search box.

Alternatively, pickling spice can be ordered online. Penzey's (penzeys.com) and Great American Spice (americanspice.com) both sell pickling spice. Penzey's is sweeter and a bit more exotic with star anise among the ingredients. American Spice's is hotter, with lots of mustard seed and dried red pepper.

The box will give you instructions on preparing the lids and rings. They need to be heated but not boiled. Boiling can break down the sealing compound.

You only need to sterilize your jars if you're processing something like a jam under 10 minutes. For anything processed 10 minutes or more hot, clean jars are fine.

A boiling water bath (BWB on the forum) can be any kettle large enough to contain the jars and allow one to two inches of water to boil above them. Don't let the jars touch the bottom. They'll break. You can use a round cake rack, a towel (messy but it works) or use twist ties and wire together some extra canning rings to make your own. Basically anything you have around or can pick up cheaply somewhere like a dollar store that will elevate the jars.

Since you're new to canning Maggie, one thing you might want to do is go back through the threads and just read some of what the members are saying. I think you'll pick up a lot of useful information.

I'm also providing a link below to the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The site offers a wealth of helpful information.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP

READINGLADY- Thanks so, so much for all the information. I have spent the last couple weeks reading every post that contains the word 'pickle'. I am driven to make a batch of pickles. Go figure. Thanks for the money saving tip - don't want to buy a canner. I made a batch of refrigerator pickles yesterday, but I want to make this recipe because of all the raves plus it will keep longer. So....make a rack, boil the filled jars with 2" water over them for however long the recipe say and I shouldn't kill anyone I guess. By the way, I'm a big "reading lady" too. I'm anxious to do my pickles and get back to my books. Thanks again for such a thorough response.

Just wondering..........I have a bunch of cut up cukes that i was going to continue to make another batch of what I've started with...........but........what would happen if I started your recipe now with them already cut?

Juliejart, I think Linda Lou mentioned that she started with cut up cucumbers once and they just shriveled up. I think it wouldn't work.

Annie

Thank you for such a prompt response. Made all mustard pickles instead. Next batch will try Linda Lou's! Sure sound good.

Ahh mustard pickles, my moms favorite. They used to use flour to thicken the 'sauce', as well as using tumeric for the yellow color. I might make a batch soon, but will cut the cukes into smaller pieces. I also add onions, and cauliflower to them, kind of like a sweet mixed, but with a mustard sauce instead of a vinegar sugar brine. Great on hot dogs..

Yep, that's what I used - flour and turmeric and dry mustard. Plus I put in some whole small onions, cut onion chunks, cauliflower, red and green peppers, celery, and carrots. Family all ate the first jar next day. I think they're best to set a few days and then pop in fridge like LindaLou said - to me they just taste better. These look kinda pretty with all the other colors on the shelves. Pretty pathetic, aren't I? LOL

OK, I think I'd like to take the "plunge" on these sweets. I don't usually make sweets but.................you know.

I have a couple of questions.
1. Have you ever made spears rather than chunks?? Seems like it would work. Still cut open to allow brine in, but long instead of rounds.

2. Are these a true sweet pickle like you can buy? Very sweet? I don't want to make a bread & butter style as my family is not really crazy about those.

We do like the little sweet pickles rolled up with some cream cheese in ham slices. Cut and served as appetizers, snacks, etc.

TIA,
Deanna

In recall the very tiny gerkins that are pickled with a very sweet brine as a commercial product. Its a similar brine used in making most sweet mixed pickles, but with lots more sugar. These are almost like eating candy and have a strong clove and allspice flavor.

Might I ask why you don't like B&B pickles? Those are my favorites and many friends like them as well. I use mostly celery seed and mustard seeds in mine, along with some cider vinegar. Another one I make is a hamburger dill slice. These get celery seeds, a bit of garlic and lots of dill, along with being a little sweet as well.

Ken,
How far did you have to dig to find this old post? I was reading the responses and found one I wrote in 2005. The first post was dated Sunday July 31st. Thought it was strange as Monday was July 31st. Or, maybe I'm losing my mind.

Deanna, these are sweet like commercial sweets, but with a less pronounced spice flavor. I really like them.

I don't think they are much like bread and butter pickles at all, I don't really care much for those either, except the slices of pickled onions in the jar.

Annie

Ken, I like B & B...family does not. I think they are just "stuck" on dills. We eat a lot of those!

Would you share your B & B recipe? I can compare with what I've used and see if there's something different. I think it's the yellow-y color and mustard flavor they don't like.

Annie, Thanks. Sigh. Guess I'm gonna have to make some. hee hee. What do you think about spears rather than chunks?
Deanna

Actually, it wasn't me to resurrected this old post. My B&B recipe isn't actually one. Yes, there is tumeric added for the yellow color. I primarily used a packaged mix from Ball for my B&Bs. Then, I add extra mustard seeds and celery seeds to each jar before cold packing the cuke slices. Spears may be OK too, but I like the texture of a crinkle cut slice. Beause I also like dill, I will also add a few dill seeds. As to the sugar required on the packet from Ball, I don't use any, but intead use a small amount of Splenda. It may take about a cup of Splenda to sweeten the B&B compared to a five pound bag of sugar. Mrs. Fannings is store bought B&B and are also yellow with lots of celery seeds added. They also use a little cider vinegar along with the white distilled. Because I may make double batches, I would use a B&B mix as well as a sweet pickle mix together. With the two, and the added spices it helps to round out the flavor. You could also cut down on the sugar, and mustard seed, the add some dill and see if that will entice them to try a B&B pickle.

Deanna, I think spears would be fine, I slice mine a bit thinner because I like slices and they seem to come out just fine.

Annie

OK, now to get those little cukes to produce enough at one time.
Think I'll go out and have a little talk with them tonight.
They are in serious danger of having to sit next to "purchased" cukes if they don't get with it!!
Deanna

Deanna, I only had enough for a half batch, but I still got 5 pints, after snitching samples of course.

Annie