Seven-Day Pickles

We made this recipe for sweet pickles a few times when we lived in North Carolina. Their unique taste and crisp texture still lingers with me. Found this recipe again on cooks.com and revised it as per below.

Ingredients:

7 pounds cucumbers, washed.
Enough fresh cold water to cover the cucumbers
2 tablespoons salt
1 quart apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons pickling spice
8 cups sugar

Follow this seven-day process:

Day One:

Pack the cucumbers in a huge jar or food safe container. Cover with boiling water.

Cover the container and let it sit overnight.

DayTwo:through Day Four

Drain. Repeat day one each day for three days. Using fresh water every time.

Day Five

Drain. Trim off the ends of the cucumbers, then slice (a mandolin is best) into 1/4″ slices. (Note: we cut them into crayon-thin spears.)

Combine vinegar, salt, sugar and pickling spice. Bring liquid to boil and pour over cucumbers.

Cover and let it sit overnight.

Day Six:

Drain syrup and bring back to a boil

Pour this vinegar mixture over the cucumbers.

Cover and let it sit for 24 hours.

Day Seven:

Repeat Day Six.

Pack the pickles into sterilized jars – pints or quarts, whatever size you want, depending on how many you think you will eat in one sitting. (Not that you can’t keep these in the refrigerator or on the shelf for months.) Make up any shortfall of liquid by adding a little more vinegar ... just until the pickles are covered.

Cap the jars. 

Chill the pickles well before serving.

Unencumbered Cucumber

Here is a traditional German salad dish that is devoid of sour cream. (Not that that version isn’t good too.) And it is quite simple.

Peel and slice two medium cucumbers into 1/8 inch pieces. Next, peel, half and slice a small Vidalia (or other sweet) onion. Place all these slices in a bowl and cover with ice cubes. Place in the refrigerator for at least half an hour. In the meantime mix 5 tablespoons of good sharp cider vinegar with three tablespoons of sugar (can be light brown), a good pinch of salt and about four pepper mill turns … all in a small glass. Mix well and place this glass in the freezer until you are ready to remove the cucumber and onion slices. Drain and pat dry these cucumber and onion slices and top them with the well-chilled vinegar dressing. Sprinkle with chopped fresh dill or coriander seeds (pictured) and serve immediately ... as the secret of this dish is for it to be well chilled.

Goes will with chicken or pork dishes.