We continue pickle week with another of Mernie’s recipes, this time for Icicle Pickles. I particularly like this recipe because it is written on the back of a church program and I picture them talking after church with Mernie explaining the recipe, though I doubt that is how it happened. The paper was folded quite a bit and is in bad shape. With all the editors marks on it, I wonder if Gram was working on translating it for someone else.
This is a process that lasts twelve days.
UPDATE: A reader recently asked if these pickles turn blue during the pickling process. Since I have not made them myself, I ask you readers to please comment about the color of them. Thanks!!
Icicle Pickles (Mernie)
2 gallons cucumbers (cut in 4 parts)
Pour over 1 pint salt, 1 gallon boiling water. Cover tightly & let stand 1 week (keep water level over cucumbers). Drain. (They look awful. Rinse.) Throw away mushy ones.
Pour over another gallon of boiling water. Let stand 24 hours. Drain.
Pour over another gallon boiling water and 1 heaping tablespoon alum. Let stand 24 hours. Drain.
Boil together 2 1/2 quarts vinegar, 8 pounds sugar, handful pickling spices (unless in cold weather, see below). Pour over pickles. Let stand 24 hours. Drain & boil juice 15 minutes & pour over pickles. Repeat next day. The day after than you put your pickles in the jars while the syrup boils & pour boiling syrup over pickles. Can.
Cold weather
2 quarts vinegar, 6 pounds 6 oz sugar about right for 1 full peck cukes. They won’t all go into a 2 gal crock. If you weather is cold enough, you don’t lose many cukes & can use a whole recipe of vinegar.
I love the notes she wrote to herself..and others..they look awful..LOL..cute notations! :)
This recipe is very similar to my mother-in-law’s icicle pickle which I have been making for 10 years or longer. She kept her’s in a crock in the basement and I started doing the same but found it a sticky mess. I started putting mine into jars, pouring the boiling syrup over them & using new sealing lids to seal them. This has worked fine, but am now concerned about the safer methods recommended of water baths. My mother-in-law said this was not necessary and has years of safe eating to refer to, but I have grandchildren now and want to feel secure that what I am giving them is entirely safe.
What do you suggest and can I go back and do the one batch I finished a few days ago if you suggest it necessary. Also in a water bath do the jars have to be covered and how long should they be boiling? I have never canned – just jammed and frozen. No worries there!
Might as well ask your opinion on the pots I use to do the cucs. I have inherited my pots. I use a couple of baked enamel ones and one I am sure has aluminum cladding. I bought a food grade plastic bucket that I am concerned about pouring boiling into. I am torn by what I and my mother-in-law have “always” done and what I am reading about it now. The cucs come on so quickly in the garden that this year I even used a plastic laundry tub for one batch transferring them as other batches finished off.
Hi Judy,
Thank you so much for your comments. I have to admit, I’m quite surprised at how popular this recipe is. Unfortunately, I have not made it, so I can’t comment on your questions or give you any advice on water baths. My honest thought is that the pickling process is probably pretty safe. Modern conventions tell us we have to pasteurize and homogenize everything, not necessarily for the betterment of the taste or quality of food.
Good luck with your pickles! I’d love to hear if you tried this recipe and how they turned out.
Martha Gibbons
One of your readers asked if the pickles turn blue — the pickles my Great Aunt used to make back in the 50′s turned a bluish green color. These are one of my favorite pickles.
The blue color most likely came about from food coloring My Mom always added green color at the end of the 12 days. They look much nicer that way.
Barbara
How many gallons are 4 gallons of cukes?
My other question is what do you use to cover the crock tightly?
LOL ahem… Revised Q – How many cukes equal 4 gallons?
This is the same recipe that was my grandmothers, passed down to my mother, and now me. It’s quite a process, but WELL worth it. My grandma’s says “alum the size of a walnut”. This helps a bunch, because I wasn’t sure how much to use. LOVE these pickles and have many family members that do as well.
PS – that first 7 days of soaking leaves a very nasty smell. Make sure that you put the crock somewhere that you don’t have to smell it on a daily basis. Enjoy!
Lori, was your grandmother from Pennsylvania? I’m just curious since they both say “the size of a walnut”.
No….she was born in Wisconsin, then lived in Michigan the rest of her life. If only I could ask her what that meant. I also have a recipe of hers that’s called “Frigidaire Rolls”. That’s because the dough can be stored in the frig for several months and pulled out when needed. They’re amazing!!
Oh….and forgot to say, the recipe for the rolls says “1 cake of yeast”. It took me a bit to get that part right! :-)