Directions: |
Directions:Pick, wash, and sort cucumbers. Best to use the small ones. 1/2 inch in diameter to the size of a quarter or a little larger.
Put cucumbers in a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a sealable lid. Cover cucumbers with cold water ( 1 cup canning salt to 1 gallon of water.) Depending on how many cucumbers you have, cover them with a large glass pie dish right side up. (DON NOT USE METAL AS IT REACTS WITH THE SALT). Then take a gallon size plastic storage bag, fill it about half full with water and seal it shut. Place this on top of your cucumbers to use as your paper weight to keep the cucumbers under the salt brine. Put the lid on the bucket and let them soak for 10 days.
On the 11th day, pour off brine and wash cucumbers and cut them into desired size. Soak in 1 T. of alum to 1 gallon of water. Cover with pie pan and water bag and let sit for 24 hours.
Drain off the alum water and leave cucumbers in your bucket. In a large pan mix 1 quart of cider vinegar, 8 cups of sugar, 1 or 2 sticks of cinnamon broken into small pieces. 12-13 whole cloves. It may take at least 2 times this amount to cover your cucumbers. Watch this as you bring it to a boil. Once it starts bubbling it will boil over quickly. Pour over cucumbers and let sit for 24 hours. Drain off the vinegar and sugar brine - bring it to a boil again. Repeat this three days. On the fourth day put the cucumbers in pint bottles - cover them with the vinegar and sugar mixture and seal. Process in hot water bath for 7 minutes.
This sounds like a lot of work but it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes for 5 days. The rest of the time they just sit and soak.
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