Pickled Lemon Cucumbers

A couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to find a use for the gobs of lemon cucumbers my plants were producing. We had so many cucumbers we couldn't keep up with them, so I decided to try making pickles with them. I used the following recipe that I found on the blog Jillicious Discoveries:

Bread-and-Butter Pickle Slices

From So Easy to Preserve, pgs. 125-126

Yields = 7-8 pints

6 pounds of 4 to 5-inch pickling cucumbers *I used mostly lemon cucumbers and one large Armenian cucumber.

8 cups thinly sliced onions /about 3 pounds *I used a mixture of walla walla onions and yellow onions

1/2 cup canning salt *It's very important to use "canning" or "pickling" salt, rather than table salt. Other salts contain anti-caking materials and this can make the brine or liquid cloudy.

Crushed or cubed ice

4 cups vinegar (5%) *Use vinegar of 5-percent acidity. Do not use homemade vinegar or vinegar that you don't know the acidity of in pickling. Also, do not dilute the vinegar, because you will be diluting the preservative effect.

4 1/2 cups sugar

2 Tbsp. mustard seed

1 1/2 Tbsp. celery seed

1 Tbsp. ground turmeric

Preparation:

1) Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/6-inch off blossom end and discard. Cut into 3/16-inch rings.

2) Combine cucumbers and onions in a large bowl. Add canning salt.
3) Cover with 2 inches crushed or cubed ice. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours, adding more ice as needed.

To Make Pickles:

1) Add sugar and remaining ingredients to vinegar in a large pot. Boil 10 minutes.

2) Add well drained cucumbers and onions and slowly reheat to boiling.
Fill pint or quart jars with cucumber & onion slices, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Fill to 1/2 inch from top with hot cooking liquid. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rims. Adjust lids.

4) Process pints or quarts for 10 minutes in a Boiling Water Bath. After processing and cooling, jars should be stored 4 to 5 weeks before use to develop ideal flavor.

*Remember after removing jars from Boiling Water Bath, they should remain undisturbed for 12 hours before moving them to storage.