Saturday, July 7, 2012

7 Day Pickles

Look at these gorgeous little cucumbers from my mom and dad's garden. My dad always plants a few extra cucumber plants just for my pickle making.



If you are looking for a crisp sweet pickle, look no further. These are absolutely the best sweet pickles I have ever eaten. This is another recipe given to me by my wonderful mother-in-law. Although these pickles do take some time (7 days) to make, the recipe is not difficult.

7 Day Pickles

  • 8 Cups Sugar
  • 3 t Salt
  • 3 Cups Apple Cider vinegar
  • 2 T Pickling Spice, wrapped in cheese cloth and tied

  • Gallon Size Glass Jar
Wash cucumbers and glass jar well. Place enough whole cucumbers in the jar to fill it, but do not stuff the jar. 

Day 1: Boil water and pour over cucumbers in jar until they are completely covered with water. Jar will sit out on counter at room temperature uncovered.

Day 2-4: Pour all of the water out of the jar and rinse the cucumbers (sometimes a slimy film covers the cucumbers and needs to be rinsed off, but its a good idea to rinse the cucumbers even if the film is not present). Then repeat Day 1.

Day 5: Pour all of the water out of the jar, remove the cucumbers, rinse them, and slice them to your desired size. Clean out the jar really well and return the sliced cucumbers back to the jar.


Take a 6 x 6 piece of cheese cloth and place 2 T of pickling spice in to the middle of the cloth. Tie the the cheese cloth in to a little bundle, cut away any excess cloth, and place in the jar with the pickles. This allows the pickling spice to flavor the pickles without having bits and pieces of the spice floating around your in your pickle jars.


Then, in a large stock pot bring the sugar, salt and vinegar to a boil. Pour this mixture over the sliced pickles and the cheese cloth bundle in the jar. These cucumbers will sit out on the counter at room temperature for two days. I usually cover the jar at this time with a salad plate to prevent anything getting in the jar.



Day 7: Pour the entire contents of the jar in to a large stock pot. Heat the syrup and cucumbers until very hot, but not boiling. (I use tongs to fish out the pickles, divide them between my jars, and then use a laddle to pour the pickle juice to the top of each jar.) Pour in to clean jars and seal. Once the cans are sealed and cooled you can store them in the pantry for 1 year. Keep one jar in the refrigerator. Once the pickles are chilled, they will crisp.


 
I use these pickles in any recipe that may call for sweet relish. They are wonderful on a sandwich or just by themselves.

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