SUGAR PACKED PICKLES

Steps:

• 1. IMPORTANT: Do NOT soak cucumbers in anything aluminum! Soak them in glass or stainless steel. A butter churn works well, too.
• 2. Day 1: Boil 6 quarts of fresh water with 1 1/2 boxes of salt. Pour over cucumbers and let stand overnight.
• 3. Day 2: Drain cucumbers and place back into same pot or whatever you're soaking them in. Boil 6 quarts of fresh water with 1 box of alum then pour over cucumbers and let stand overnight.
• 4. Day 3: Drain cucumbers and place back into same pot or whatever you're using for soaking. Boil 6 quarts of fresh water and pour over cucumbers and let stand overnight.
• 5. Day 4: Drain cucumbers and place back into same pot or whatever you're using for soaking. Boil 1 gallon of vinegar plus pickling spice for 15 minutes. Pour over cucumbers and let stand for nine (9) days. Cover pot (or whatever you're using for soaking) with either a clean dish towel or paper towels but not a lid per se.
• 6. Pour off vinegar mixture and discard. No need to wash the pot (or whatever you're using for soaking) because you'll now be using it again for layering the cukes and sugar.
• 7. Slice the cucumbers and put a layer into pot (or whatever you're using for soaking) and then a layer of sugar to completely cover the cukes. Keep layering cukes and sugar until all cukes & sugar are used ending with sugar to completely cover top. You may not need the entire 10 pounds of sugar. Use your own judgement.
• 8. Let stand (covered with either a clean dish towel or paper towels) until sugar has disolved. Stir several times each day to help disolve sugar. Be sure to stir bottom since it likes to settle there.
• 9. Once all sugar has disolved you can now pack them into jars* and store in pantry. Also, put a jar in your fridge if you like them cold before using.
• 10. MY TIPS: I like saving all size jars such as, jelly jars, molasses jars, etc to use for my pickles because they don't need to be sealed. I normally just use my canning jars because I have so many but my advice is to not use metal lids. The vinegar will make them rust. I actually save my mayo plastic lids because they fit perfectly on my canning jars. If you have to use jelly or molasses jars, which doesn't come with plastic lids, be sure to put plastic wrap (double or triple) and then screw the lid on. Check them ever so often to make sure the lid isn't rusting. If it is, just replace with more plastic wrap. Hey, you can even use plastic wrap with a string or ribbon tied around it secure the plastic.
• 11. Last year I cubed the cucumbers as I was layering them with the sugar and I won't do that again. That was so time consuming. I normally just cube the slices as I use them.