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Two questions about sweet pickle chunk recipe

13 years ago

I started Linda Lou's Sweet Pickle Chunk recipe yesterday. I neglected to look at the calendar, though, and it's going to be impossible for me to do the syrup step on Day 5. (Long story.) Is it okay to wait until Day 6 to do that, or will the extra day of boiling water treatment have a negative effect?

And for the boiling water on days 2-4, is it okay to pour off the soaking water and reboil it? I use bottled water in canning, so it'd be easier to reuse what I have than it would be to buy several more gallons of water.

Thanks for the help!

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Comments (6)

Linda_Lou
13 years ago
I have never used the boiling water an extra day. Can't you make the syrup up ahead of time and put in the fridge and then boil that day instead of the water ?
I would not reuse the water. There are impurities and bacteria in the water from them sitting in there.
dgkritch
13 years ago
I was going to suggest the same thing about making the syrup ahead of time. Then it's no different time than the boiling water, except cutting them up (while the syrup comes to a boil).

I don't reuse water either. Not sure why you used bottled water, but the pickles always come out great even with my very hard, iron rich water. Not sure what water issues you have, but maybe they aren't a problem for pickles?!?

Deanna
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Thanks Ken. You may not be an expert (just kidding), but you have had a lot of good information. In this post along with many others I have read through. Thanks Linda Lou. I don't think these pickles will last that long around here anyway. Just wanted to check in case I make more. I may have to sooner than I think. I was going to pick another load of cukes today. I may have enough for 2 batches now. We got some heavy rain last night. So many of my cukes have swelled up so fast my trellis is about to fall over from the weight. It's not staked very good, and until now, had not been a problem. I may make some relish too. I'll just have to cut out some seeds because I think some of the cukes are a little bigger than I wanted. I think I need to get some more jars. This is kind of late to ask this question, but I didn't think of it until last night while reboiling the syrup. My question is...When draining the syrup to reboil and pour over the pickles, do you leave the spice bag with the pickles or do you keep it in the syrup and boil with it? I didn't think it would make much of a difference, but I have been leaving it in the syrup when I bring it back to a boil. Could this make the spices even stronger only because they are getting heated to a higher temp for a longer period of time. Paul
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Ball Complete isn't outdated. There was a period of time during which Ball discontinued the sale of pickle crisp and those of us who had used it switched to food-grade calcium chloride (which is what pickle crisp is). The Food-grade calcium chloride (i.e. generic) is more crystalline and required greater amounts, just like Diamond Crystal kosher requires a greater volume to equal the weight of a given amount of canning and pickling salt. I don't know the current formulation as I only use the generic, but there are lots of threads regarding pickle crisp and calcium chloride which discuss varying amounts for different formulations. I would recommend using whatever amount the package states or less. In several instances I've found I prefer a lighter touch with the stuff. Also, you may want to look on the NCHFP site for their lime pickles. Yes, it's more troublesome but again, you may prefer the results. It is still approved for pickling, as long as you take the appropriate precautions. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP Quick Sweet Pickles with Lime
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busylizzy
13 years ago
Yep, I vote for the making a syrup early, refrigerating, then boil. Being a single Mom I do that quite often for many syrups and brines.

I use distilled bottled water, just a thing with me.

I need to take a weekend and sanitize the well.
mudster
Original Author
13 years ago
I didn't think about making the syrup ahead of time. Still not sure that would work. I'm going to be gone all day on Thursday -- someone in the family is having surgery a few hours away, and I won't be back until late -- too late for pickle making. I forgot to factor that into my plans. Not sure what I'll do, but I think if I can't manage the cutting/jarring/syruping on Thursday (and I don't see it happening), I'm going to try the extra day soak and see what happens. I'm hoping the cucumbers don't know how to count.

Our water is very hard and nasty-tasting -- I don't use it for cooking anymore because I don't like the taste it leaves. Thus the bottled water. I'll take the advice about not reusing it, though.
dgkritch
13 years ago
Would you be able to just continue with the process early the next morning? If so, I think I would just do the normal step when you can and let them sit a few extra hours.
Process with the syrup step as soon as you can.
I can't imagine that everyone who makes these changes brine/syrup at exactly the same time each day.

Deanna
annie1992
13 years ago
OK, I confess. I've lost track of my days and done an extra day with the boiling water. Twice. They were fine both times, but maybe I was just very lucky.

I do have a batch right now on the counter that needs to go into jars tonight, but I was pretty careful about timing on these, I don't want to press my luck!

Annie

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