Well, beets are firm by nature, so I doubt they'll be mushy, just somewhat softer. I don't know how much softer; I think that would also be determined by variety and pre-cooking time. I would monitor carefully and remove the beets the moment they're tender. There have been some studies regarding reduced shelf time for sugar-free products but no definitive timeframe I know of. Maybe Linda Lou has an answer since she has personal experience with sugar-free and reduced-sugar products. Without the sugar the beets will soften in the jar, so texture-wise at some point they'll not be as appealing to eat. This is purely a guess, but if you assume a 12-month shelf life for standard pickled beets, 6 months might be the extent for sugar-free. However, storage conditions and exposure to extremes of temperature and/or light do play a role. That's why I suggested the Pickle Crisp, which is a safe and convenient addition. Carol

I still have the lime here (Mrs. Wages brand) and it did help to hold the cukes a bit firmer for the all vinegar sour pickles. I do not use alum anymore and because it still seems to be linked to aluminium and allzheimers I was not going to even try going any further with it. The lime was used, and the whole cukes were soaked in it for 24 hours in the fridge. I used huge stainless steel bowls that take up a whole shelf in the fridge. I cut off the tips of both ends prior to the soaking, They did get a long rinse afterwards, but even for that, there was a bit of white sediment in the brine after a few days. I also used a bit of tumeric for some color. They were quite pungent. I could have even added a bit of my acid blend and made them even more potent.. My sours are not fermented. They are just 100% plain white distilled vinegar, salt, and a little tumeric. My pickled pepperoncini are also done that way, but without the tumeric. My half sours are just a salt brine with a dash of vinegar added after they sit on the counter overnight. Ive also use the pickling lime for making some sweet mixed, but it was just for the cukes to soak in first. The amount of alum used in a 7 quart batch of sour pickles was something like about 2-3 teaspoons for the toatl amount of vinegar brine. With Pickle Crisp, you do have as slight flavor of chlorine, but that tends to dissipate once they are opened and allowed to 'breath' a few minutes before serving. A chilled pickle always seems to be a bit crunchier than at room temp. FYI> Rumford brand baking powder has no alum in it. Baking soda is basically bicarbonate of soda and nothing else. There is also a bakers ammonia that is still used today for some Swedish cookies and pasteries. I can't taste Pickle Crisp, but that might be because of the heat of the peppers, or the strength of the flavors and spices I use in regular pickles. Mrs. Wages and Ball mixes are the primary ingredients I use when making spiced pickles, and I add extra spices like dill, celery seeds, mustard seeds and such to the various kinds of pickles.There is nothing worse (besides a sour or mushy cuke) than a bland tasting pickle. A recent America Test Kitchen episode dealt with making a flaky pastery for a big berry tart. They mixed the butter and flour to a very course mix, then used their palms to press the flour into the butter lumps. This helped to spread the butter into thinner bits. Ever made puff pastry? I have, with excellent results. MUCH better than the Pepperidge Farm frozen stuff. It does take a long time, a cold work surface, lots of patience and lots of rolling between each chilling.

Commonsense, Avoid the sea salt. It does contain minerals that can make the taste of a salt brine based pickle less than appealing. Pickling salt is mined and refined to be as pure salt, with no anti-caking additives or minerals etc. When I make a HALF SOUR, salt brine based, pickle, I do NOT boil anything. I add the dill weed and seed heads and garlic to the empty jars, pack the jars with cukes that have been washed and BOTH end tips removed. The mixture sits on the kitchen counter for up to two days, THEN a dash of vinegar (about 2 tablespoons per half gallon jar) is added and its placed in the fridge. Yes, you are way off with your technique, especially by not using the proper salt, no matter how pure it is still sea salt, which is just sea water that has been dried. If you want the flavor of dill, you should not add other spices. A pickling spice mix at best, is for use when you don't care too much about the combination of flavors, but are wanting a sweeter spicy pickle. Regular pickling spice mixes do poorly with a mostly water based brine, as many of the spices contain essential oils that 'bloom' when they get cooked or mixed with an acidic vinegar. For a truely dill flavored pickle, you can also try using a prepackaged mix from Ball and/or Mrs. Wages. These mixes contain the extracts and spices and salt alone, and usually need no additional spices. Here, I use them for my half sours and also do add fresh dill seed heads and dill weed, along with cut up fresh garlic cloves. Following the proper methods will give you a safer and more tasty product with no 'surprises'. Also, tasting the brines prior to adding to fresh cukes, when used as a fresh curing agent as opposed to a heat canned product, will give you a better insight as to the end result which is obviously the taste you want to get. I don't think they can be harmful if left out for a day or two, but because you may not have followed some, or all of the 'rules, its a 50:50 chance if left out unrefrigerated.

The hot dog relish tastes great. I used the balance of the left over mustard sauce (from previous post about mustard pickles). I made it by simmering for an hour, some ground up mustard seeds (both yellow and brown) with 5% and 20% vinegar. Then, I strained it and used some prepared mustard as well as some mustard powder, Splenda and pickling salt. Tumeric was used to give me that bright yellow color. The hot dog relish was made with the left over sauce, finely chopped cucumbers and onions, along with some garlic, dried sweet red peppers (for some color). The mixture was brought to a boil and the jars filled. Processing takes 15 minutes. Ran out of pint jars, so I had to go out an buy for more cases..