You might think to yourself “why would you need to note that the cucumbers should be ripe” when you first glance at this recipe card. Honestly, I have only made sweet pickles and have never processed them to be stored in the pantry; I freely admit my lack of knowledge in most things pickling. But, since we have seen so many recipes for green tomatoes (not yet ripe), it stands to reason that there will be many recipes for ripe and unripe produce. In this case, I quickly looked on google, which told me that when cucumbers become over ripe, they lose their green color and turn yellow. So, this recipe is a method to use up all the cucumbers on your vines so none go to waste.

Ripe Cucumber Pickles (for yellow cucumbers)

8 large cucumbers

1/2 cup salt

3 1/2 cups brown vinegar

2 tbsp mustard seed

1 tbsp celery seed

1 tbsp whole pickling spice

1 1/2 cups sugar

Peel cucumbers & remove seeds. slice lengthwise. Sprinkle with salt, let stand 2 hours. Place salted cucumbers in colander & rinse. Let drain for 1 hour. Boil spices, sugar & vinegar 5 minutes. Add cucumbers & simmer 15 to 20 minutes. Pack in hot jars & seal.