Crispy Sweet Pickles – Water Bath or Cold Pack Canned
Sweet Pickles are the perfect thing to do with the plethora of cucumbers in your garden! They can be water bath canned or cold packed (quick pickled), for shorter storage!
I have about half a ton of cucumbers this year in my garden! So I need to do something, anything, with them all! I hate wasting food! I have given them to friends and family and they still keep coming! This Sweet Pickles recipe has come to my salvation more times than I care to say! Want to learn my secrets to growing so many cucumbers from 4 plants? See my How to Plant a Vegetable Garden Series for tips and tricks!
How to ensure your pickles are crispy
As everyone who likes pickles knows, the key to a good pickle is that they are crispy! Soggy pickles? No, Thank YOU!
To this end, I utilize a few tricks to make them extra crispy.
- Make pickles the same day you pick them.
- Salt cucumbers to remove some of the water from the pickle.
- Use black tea to help the pickles stay crisp.
- Additional tips for crispy pickles.
How to make sweet pickles
- Wash pickles well.
- Slice into spears, lengthwise. See recipe notes for quantities.
- Pickles can also be sliced about 1/8″ thick, by hand or carefully, with a mandolin. Add salt to pickles.
- Toss cucumbers around with hands to distribute the salt among all of the cucumbers. Let cucumbers sit, in a colander, over a bowl, on the counter, or in the refrigerator, overnight.
- Place water and vinegar and sugar to a pot.
- Add spices. Heat over high heat, stirring until sugar is melted. Heat until the mixture boils. Reduce heat until ready to use.
- Rinse the cucumbers well and allow to drain for a few minutes.
- Load cucumbers in hot, sterilized jars. To load spears, lay jar on it’s side and lay the pickles in.
- Squeeze as many sliced cucumbers per jar as you can fit.
- Ladle hot vinegar mixture into jars. Wipe rims of jars clean with a damp towel. Attach lids and tighten bands, finger tight.
Process in water bath canning pot for 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts. Turn off heat and allow jars to sit in hot water for another 5 minutes. Carefully remove from canning pot and let sit on counter overnight. Then check lids. If they flex up and down in the center, store in the refrigerator. If they are fully sealed, store in a cool dark place for up to 12- 18 months.
What to do with sweet pickles
Sweet Pickles are great for more things than just a side for burgers or sandwiches.
- Chop and add to salads, like potato, macaroni or tuna for an added kick.
- Use them in your holiday or hostess gift baskets.
- Chop and add to mayonnaise or ketchup for a new condiment.
- Add to pizzas or casseroles to make a burger themed dish.
- Use them in easy appetizers, with ham and cheese rolled around the pickle.
- Add to chef’s salads.
- Make a cheese ball with pickles.
Other delicious pickled recipes
- Pickled Peppers
- Pickled Red Onion
- Sweet Pickle Relish
- Pickled Garlic Scapes
- Pickled Radishes
- Kosher Pickles
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Tools I use to make sweet pickles
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That’s how easy it is to make Sweet Pickles. Thanks for stopping by today!
Enjoy! And have fun cooking!
Xoxo,
Sweet Pickles
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Salt kosher or canning salt
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 cup cider vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon mustard seed
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 4 bags black tea
- 3 pounds cucumbers about 10 cups of slices
Instructions
- Slice cucumbers, by hand or (very carefully) with mandolin3 pounds cucumbers
- Add cucumbers and salt to bowl. Toss to coat all cucumber slices with salt.1/4 cup Salt
- Cover bowl and stand on counter, or in refrigerator overnight.
- Next morning, place in bowl and rinse salt off of cucumbers. Rinse the cucumbers well or they will be salty! Allow to drain.
- In a sauce pan, add sugar, vinegar, water and spices. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.1 cup Sugar, 2 cup cider vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon celery seed, 1 teaspoon mustard seed, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- Reduce heat and high simmer or low boil, for about 30 minutes.
- Sterilize jars in canning pot.
- Remove hot jars, one at a time and drain water. Cut open black tea bag and add 1 bag per pint jar.4 bags black tea
- Pack cucumber slices into hot jars, within a 1/2 inch of top of jar.
- Pour hot canning liquid into jar leaving ½" headspace.
- Wipe rim of jar with wet towel. Attach hot lids and tighten bands finger tight. Return to canning pot.
- Process jars for 15 minutes per pint, adjusting for altitude. Allow to rest in hot water 5 minutes after turning heat off.
- Remove jars from canning pot and let sit on counter overnight.
- Check seal in the morning, if lids flex up and down, when pressed in center, jar is not properly sealed. Store any that didn't seal in refrigerator.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Love Gardening? If you love growing your own produce, these posts are packed full of information about how to get that big harvest by the end of the season! Don’t miss How to Start a Garden Series! The first part is Planning Your Garden!
Second is Preparing the Garden Site.
The third is Choosing Plants and Planting Your Garden.
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How long should the pickles sit in the jar before eating them? Recipe quantities were spot on.
Great! I’m glad the recipes worked well for you! We usually let them sit a month, but you could sample after a couple of weeks.
Can this recipe be used with whole baby gherkins? Or do the cukes need to be sliced to let the brine in? Thx!!
They can be done whole. It’s best to let them sit in the brine longer, after canning, for flavor. Thanks, Shirley!
I just used this recipe today, so I can’t speak to flavor yet, but the algorithm doesn’t seem to work properly to reduce the amount of cucumbers so I had to scramble and make more brine. There was just enough to the drop to make 4 pints, so no waste, but I only had 2 pounds of cucumbers and the recipe states three, and I got 5 pints. The reduced recipe for just over 2 pounds got me enough binge for 1 pint. Now, I can accept that I may not pack them exactly the same, but I’ve been cooking and baking for a long time, canning for three years and this is the first time I’ve had this issue with a recipe. If you want to reduce the recipe I’d recommend just doing the math, but I’ll probably make more brine than I think I need in future.
There are 5 cups of liquid in the recipe, plus the sugar, knowing that each pint will hold less than one cup of liquid, with the displacement of the cucumber, there is enough liquid to boil off over one cup, in the the 30 minutes in high simmers. The only problem with doing 2 cups of cucumbers is that you end up with 2.6 pints, so it isn’t an even amount. If you got 5 pints total from two pounds of cucumbers, I’m not sure where the answer lies, unless you cut them larger and couldn’t fit as many in each jar, in which case, you would need more brine. This recipe is based on the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s recipe. We have used it for decades and always end up with enough brine. Perhaps you high simmered longer than the recipe states.
I really enjoyed reading your recipe and hints to making pickles. My mother made sweet pickles every year in the “old time” manner. Hers were 14 day pickles which were very crisp. I have this recipe from an old cookbook if you want it. This takes me back many years. I am 79 and when I was a young child, I helped in this process. They were so good. My dad grew a big garden and my mother canned everything she could. Like you, she did not like anything to waste. She had a tall crock jug which she processed the cukes. There is one item used back then does not exist anymore, at least I can’t find it, Blue Stone was the name. it looked like blue crystals about size of green peas. That is what brought the crisp texture. I can taste them now.
Barbara (from Tennessee)
Yes, that was banned years ago Barbara. Thanks for your comment!
Thr pickles tasted great the only question is, my pickles had a red tinge to them. Did I use too much black tea?
That would have caused the red tinge but if they taste great, that is all that matters. Thanks David!
Where do you get the food grade lime?
It’s difficult to find around us. We resorted to amazon. Pickling Lime (This is an affiliate link)
Can you steep black tea bags in the vinegar/sugar liquid rather than having loose tea in with the pickles?
Yes. You can.
These turn down great, love the recipe, so easy! I wish I could figure out how to post a picture as well.
Thanks so much! You can tag us on social media @binkysculinarycarnival
when putting back into the pot to process for 15 mins is the watering already boiling when added or bring to boil than boil for 15 mins? also how full does the pot have to be of water ? over the jars ?
The water should be hot. If you let your jars cool off while you fill them, you don’t want the water boiling because it may cause a jar to crack. Let the water come to a boil and then start your timer. The water should always be at least an inch over the top of the jars. Perhaps our beginners canning article may help you?