NOTE: When selecting cucumbers for pickling, there are a few things to remember. For crisp pickles, choose ripe, pickling cucumbers, which are shorter and chunkier than regular eating cucumbers, which tend to be longer and smoother. Ripe pickling cucumbers are darker green, firm, and not “bloated.” They should have plenty of spiny bumps on the outer surface. Overripe cucumbers make mushy pickles. They tend to have yellow or white streaks or spots and their surfaces are smoother. Choose pickles that have not been coated in wax, as the pickling brine cannot penetrate through the wax. The fresher the cucumbers, the crisper the pickles will be. For best results, try picking your own cucumbers from a local farm or farmers’ market.
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 14 days 2 hr 55 min |
| Prep: | 40 min |
| Inactive: | 14 days 2 hr |
| Cook: | 15 min |
| Yield: | 4 pints |
Ingredients
- 3 pounds pickling cucumbers, sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
- 2 cups sliced onions
- 1/2 cup pickling salt
- 6 cups water
- 3 cups white vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 3 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 4 whole cloves
- 10 tablespoons roughly chopped garlic
- 24 dried cayenne peppers
- 2 teaspoons 100 percent Natural Pickle Crisp, optional
Instructions
- Place cucumbers, onions, pickling salt, and water in a large, non-reactive bowl. Cover and allow cucumbers to soak for 2 hours. Drain the water from the onions and cucumbers through a colander and rinse well for 5 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
- Combine the vinegars, sugar, mustard seeds, turmeric, cloves, garlic, and peppers in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and add the cucumbers and onions. Bring to a simmer and remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Fill each of the hot sterilized pint-size preserving jars with the pickle mixture, dividing them evenly, and enough of the liquid to come within 1/2-inch of the top. Add 1/2 teaspoon of Natural Pickle Crisp to each jar, if desired. With a clean damp towel, wipe the rim and fit with a hot lid. Screw on the metal ring just until the point of resistance is met. Process the jars in a hot-water bath for 15 minutes.
- Using tongs, remove the jars, place on a towel, and let cool. Test the seals by allowing the jars to stand at room temperature overnight or until the lids pop. Tighten the rings and store in a cool dry place. Let the pickles age for at least 2 weeks before using.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 331 |
| Total Fat | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 78 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 67 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Sodium | 1488 mg |
Reviews
I’ve made this recipe several times over the past few years, and it is a huge favorite with family and friends. My experienced canning neighbor taught me an important trick for making fresh, crisp pickles: use ice water with some ice cubes for soaking the cucumbers & onions, and soak them in the fridge. I dissolve the salt in ~ 1 cup of room temperature water then combine with the rest of the ice & water. Also great points in the description about the importance of using fresh pickling cucumbers. A couple of times I’ve forgotten to use the Pickle Crisp and they still stay pretty crispy, even at a year.
We use ~ 5 fresh habaneros, since we grow those in the garden too, but you can probably use any type of pepper, fresh or dried, according to taste and availability.
I am drying my cayenne peppers for this recipe. I am looking forward to making later today. Silly question, but do you put the cayenne peppers in with stems or without? Thank you.
I love love love these pickles. I substituted peppers out of our garden.
I made an adjusted version of this that was great. I used 1/3 less sugar. Added black peppercorn seeds. And substituted the peppers for half banana and jalapenos. The results were fantastic.
What kind of onions? My personal pet peeve–yellow, white, red, green? Geez.
Canned my pickling cucumbers right out of the garden. LOVED the taste and spices were wonderful. Will make again.
Pa o l
The juice was pretty tasty although not very spicy to me. My pickles were limp as I didn’t have that last ingredient but the pickles were still edible.
Pickles turned out wayyyy to salty.
Good recipe, but it fills 8 pints, not 4.