Old Fashioned Sweet Pickles

Old Fashioned Sweet Pickles

Cucumbers My Grandmother sliced them lengthwise into quarters, but you can slice them into 'coins' if you prefer smaller pickles.

Water

Pickling Salt - Yes, there really is a product called pickling salt. Don't use table salt as it contains iodine. Iodine has a tendency to darken pickles. Kosher salt is a suitable alternative as it contains no iodine. But if you can, use pickling salt. It can be hard to find, but worth the effort.
Alum - Used to strengthen cucumber pectin. It's what gives pickles their 'crunch'.
Pickling Spices - My grandmother had several spice combinations scratched across her recipes. I imagine it was quite common to experiment with the recipe; after all, the pickling spices are what give the pickles their flavor. Today, pickling spices can be bought commercially. Find them in the spice section.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Sugar

Day 1

Wash the cucumber rinds thoroughly. Slice into coins or lengthwise into quarters. Place slices in a large container. I used a large glass jar with glass lid. Fill the container with boiling water until all cucumbers are submerged. Leave uncover until the water comes to room temperature. When cool, cover and let rest overnight at room temperature.

Day 2

Drain a discard liquid. Boil enough water to cover the cucumbers. Add 1 1/2 C pickling salt to 1 gal. water. Pour salted, boiling water over cucumbers covering them completely. When cooled, cover. Let rest at room temperature overnight.

Day 3

Drain, discard liquid. Boil enough water to cover the cucumbers. Add 2 1/2 T. Alum to 1 gal. water. Pour over cucumbers covering them completely. When cooled, cover. Let rest at room temperature overnight.

Day 4

Drain and discard liquid. Boil apple cider vinegar, enough to cover. Add 3 T. pickling spices to 1 gal. apple cider vinegar. I'm sure my grandmother just sprinkled the spices in the vinegar before she poured it over the cucumbers as I remember spice flakes on her pickles. I chose to tie the flakes into a cheese cloth bag that I tucked into the cucumbers. You can also steep a a cheesecloth bundle into the boiling cider, discarding the bag before pouring the cider over the cucumbers. All three methods will work.

Day 5-7

Let cucumber/cider mixture rest at room temperature for three days - covered or uncovered. I suggest using a cover. The cider scent gets pretty strong by the third day.

Day 8

Drain and discard liquid and spices. Fill large bowl with sugar. One by one, dredge each cucumber in sugar, covering thoroughly. Pack tightly into jars. Sprinkle additional sugar in the jar. The result will be about one more cup of sugar in addition to the sugar coating the cucumbers. The goal is to have all air space in the jar filled with sugar. Seal jars and let the magic begin. As the sugar dissolves, it pulls moisture from the cucumbers that combines with the sugar to make a sweet syrup. It takes a few hours, but after all the sugar has 'melted' there should be enough syrup to cover the cucumbers. If not, add more sugar. Cure in a cool, dry place for several days or weeks. Chill before serving.

Hollyhock dolls, clothes on the line and gardens

My grandmother was a young woman during the depression. The 'making do' ways she learned never left her. She still used a big kettle washing machine when I was a girl, letting me crank the soggy clothes through its rubber rollers, expressing water, until they fell, stiff and flatten into the wooden basket.

Together, her with one handle, me the other, we carried the basket to the clothes line. It ran north and south - the width of her yard, just like her garden. All summer we'd weed radishes and carrots, dig potatoes, and as the corn grew, hung clothes on her line.

At summer's end, I sat in her steamy kitchen, molding holly hocks into dolls as she canned Mason jars of tomatoes and corn, peaches and relish. She's been gone for years, but every now and then, in the way we all walk a moment in the past, I remember and long to touch a crisp breeze-dried pillowcase or crunch a carrot fresh from the garden.

More than anything, I find I long for my grandmother's sweet pickles. So last summer I set out to replicate her recipe and was met with wonderful success! I'll share the recipe in my next post, but until then, check out the youtube video for making hollyhock dolls!