Lime Pickles

I want to start this blog by making a declaration: I HATE PICKLES!  I also want to say the I LOVE MY HUSBAND!  When our friend Jake brought us a whole bunch of cucumbers, I began eating one daily...it was clear, though, that I would never be able to consume all of those cucumbers!  Scott had been talking about the lime pickles his Grandmother used to make, so finally I said that we should make some lime pickles out of all those cucumbers.  I didn't realize at the time that it is a 3 day process involving soaking, rinsing, rinsing some more, more soaking, boiling, additional boiling, and lots of vinegar and sugar!

Scott's brother had the recipe that Grandma Burkhalter used.

 Monday evening Scott used the mandolin to slice cucumbers.  After slicing 1 gallon worth, we decided we had a ton of cucumbers, so we would do a DOUBLE BATCH!  

Action shot

What beautiful cucumbers!

Next step is to soak the cucumbers in a mixture of lime and water for 24 hours.  We used the canner, as well as two large plastic bowls.

 Tuesday evening we started the next step.  First you have to rinse the cucumber slices three times.  Every recipe we ready was very particular that you rinse 3 times...in doing a little research, we learned that not adequately rinsing off the lime solution can decrease the effectiveness of the acidification process, leading to a higher chance of botulism in the canning process (I bet that sentence would get me a license, eh Scott?). 

I can't wait for these pickles!

After dutifully rinsing all the slices three times, you  again cover them with fresh, cold water, and let them soak for three hours (no longer!...as our recipe adamantly told us)

 As the three hour soak comes to an end, you must prepare a syrup with vinegar, sugar (more sugar than vinegar!), a little salt, and a cheesecloth bag filled with pickling spices, celery seed, and allspice.  Scott went for a run while everything was soaking, and after he got home I realized that I needed to make a double batch of syrup (since I did a double batch of cucumbers!), and so at 10:30pm Scott made a store run for more pickling spices, wide mouth jars, celery salt, and some extra lids, just in case.

 Once the syrup comes to a boil, you pour it over the cucumbers, then let them soak in this syrup overnight.  This is where the acidification actually takes place, so it's a very important step to food safety!

This morning after going on a walk, I began the final steps.  Thank goodness...I don't know how much longer I can stand the whole house and myself smelling like pickles.  It's a good thing I'm not pregnant, so I may have lost a few lunches!  

The next step is to boil the cucumber and syrup mixture for 35 minutes.  This kills off the last of any bacteria in preparation for canning.  I don't know why it's 35 minutes and not 30 or 37, but that's what the recipe said.  This was a very potent 35 minutes, and I think I may have burned off some nostril hair.

I guess I need a bigger stock pot...I ended up using both my Dutch ovens and my deep skillet!

 After the boil, you add green food coloring so that your pickles have that lovely lime green color.  Then you load up the jars, boil in the water bath, and voila!  Lime pickles!

I did promise Scott that I will at least try one.  I've yet to met a pickle that I like, but I will try one so that all this effort is not in vain.  I hope they are tasty and that Scott loves them just as much as his Grandma's pickles!