How To Make Crispy Crunchy Sweet Pickles

It has been a regular pickle avalanche around here.  I put-up a batch of dill pickles at the beginning of the week and mid-week a batch of the signature crispy-crunchy sweet pickles.  Ordinarily, everyone gets a pint of dill or sweet pickles during the holidays replete with a festive bow on the lid. There's also homemade tomato juice, salsa, pickled beets, dilled green beans and raspberry jam.  This is a medium-sized batch - 7+ pounds of pickle cukes yields a dozen pints of finished product.. 

Begin with a sink-full of freshly-picked, scrubbed and rinsed pickle-size cucumbers. 

Slice your cukes.  The use of a mandolin makes the job go fast and results in uniform slices.  I like the crinkle cut.  Take care with the fingertips as the blade is sharp! 

Toss your cuke slices into a five gallon food-grade plastic bucket filled with a couple of gallons of cold tap water.  

Everyone should have a five gallon bucket.  My recollection is hazy but there is a possibility my bucket originally held cat litter.  It also appears to be food-grade as it doesn’t stain or absorb odors I’ve used it to brine meats and fish, haul butchered venison and assist in pickle-making. I even made sauerkraut in it one year.  In a pinch you can sit on it in your deer stand and keep your thermos, lunch and toilet paper inside where it won't get wet.  Like I said - they're indispensable. The secret to really crunchy pickles is liming them.  

Combine one cup of pickling lime with the two gallons of cold water and mix thoroughly.  If required add to the bucket additional lime and water  as you want your cuke chips float freely and uncrowded in your pickle barrel. Cover the sliced cukes with a dinner plate, snap-on the lid and let it set overnight. 

 

The following morning drain your limed cuke chips in the sink.  They'll be nice and crispy but you have to soak them to remove the excess lime.  Fill the sink full of slices with cold tap water and drain.   Repeat three more times.  Leave your slices to soak in cold water until noon -  3 to 4 more hours. Next - make your brine. 

This is easy peasy. In a non-reactive pot combine equal parts of sugar and vinegar.  For a dozen pints of pickles figure on 12 cups of sugar and 12 cups of distilled white vinegar - stir until dissolved.  Add a single 1 ½ oz bottle of pickling spice and a couple of tablespoons of kosher salt.  Heat to a boil.  Add your pickles slices, cover the pot, turn-off the heat and allow to rest on the stove top for five more hours. 

Following dinner return to the stove-top and return the pot to a boil. Since this is a hot-pack method of pickle-making keep a low fire under your pot and your lids should seal just fine.  When in doubt process in a boiling water bath for an additional 10-15 minutes.  

 

Ladle slices into sterile pint jars. The use of a canning funnel will facilitate a no-mess operation. You might use a tablespoon to organize the slices in your jars but don’t cram them too tightly. Top each jar with additional brine leaving a half-inch of head space. Add a lid and a band and set aside to cool. When the lids 'pop' your jars are sealed and your cukes are officially pickles. 

These pickles are awesome. You're going to want to put these on top of almost any sandwich you make.  Particularly a crunchy peanut butter, toasted cheese, burger, hot dog or a tuna sandwich.  Want to spice them-up?  Add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to a jar.

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 * A word about the jars and lids.  Sterilize your jars by immersing them in boiling water or running them through the dishwasher on the 'sanitize' cycle.  Lids are easy - in the microwave heat a Pyrex measuring cup full of water to a boil. Drop your lids in the hot water.  Fish them out with a sterile tongs.