This was the third preparation of B&B pickles based on the prior two here and here. This has the reduced sugar used in the second prep and increased spices. It also has a lot more crisping agent based on the reference at the bottom of this post. Mary liked them a lot. Even on 9/26/2019, she was raving about how much she liked them. She served then as part of the appetizers for the 2019 Thanksgiving family and friends lunch and was even asked for the recipe.
Ingredients – Made 6 pints.
- 16 cups of sliced medium to small cucumbers from our garden
- 2 medium white onions, sliced the same as the cukes, then cut in quarters
- 1/3 cup pickling salt
- 10 cloves garlic, halved
- 2 cups of sugar
- 1-1/2 cups apple cider vinegar and 1-1/2 cups of white vinegar (we did not have enough apple cider vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons mustard seed
- 1-1/2 teaspoons turmeric
- 1-1/2 teaspoons celery seed
- 2 heaping tablespoons of Sambal Oelek
- 4 average jalapenos from our garden, seeds removed and diced
- 3/4 tsp per pint jar – Mrs. Wages Xtra Crunch calcium chloride granules*
Directions
- Slice the cukes and onion with the mandoline. Combine cucumbers, onions, and pickling salt. Add 1 inch of cracked ice. Refrigerated for 2 hours; drained well in a colander.
- In a large kettle combined sugar, vinegar, mustard seed, turmeric, and celery seed. Heated to boiling and let rest until the cukes had been in the refrigerator with ice for 2 hours. Added cucumber mixture. Returned to boiling.
- Packed cucumber mixture and liquid into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Added garlic and diced jalapenos to each jar to assure an even distribution.
- Added to each packed pint jar 3/4 tsp Mrs. Wages Xtra Crunch calcium chloride granules per the reference below*.
- Processed in a boiling-water canner 10 minutes.
* Kingry, Judi, and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 306 says ” Use Pickle Crisp to make fresh-pack pickles crisper. Add 3/4 tsp to pint (500 ml) jars and 1 1/2 tsp to quart (1 L) jars before processing.”
