Suspect that these are a fermented pickle and you would use a salt brine to 'cure' them. Usually cukes done this way will remain a bright green as opposed to a lightening of skin color when in a vinegar based brine. Recently, I have posted many tips and suggestions on making a salt brine type of pickle. You do start with very fresh pickling cukes as well as fresh dill weed and dill seed heads. Not sure if yours were made at other times of year, besides the growing season of summer. Mine are half sours and are soaked in a salt brine/water for only about 2-3 days, depending on the cuke size. Because I like using fresh dill, they only get made in summer time. Linda Lou's recipe also has merits, as there, you also start with a salt brine cure prior to pickling. Its that first step that helps them to retain their bright color. Everyone may follow a recipe to the letter and realize that the taste might not be their preference, so start with small batches and adjust whatever you feel that was overpowering in the previous batch. Trial and error helps here. Once you get your taste preference met, then you write down the recipe. My mom used to make sweet picilili with green tomatoes, and her recipe was also composed of several recipes from different books, as well as her personal experience. Adding food colorng might be OK, but that would probably be better to add to a finely chopped cuke relish to improve appearance.

LINDA LOU'S SWEET PICKLE CHUNKS Pour boiling water over 24 pickling cukes for 4 days. On 5th day, drain, add this syrup.Cut cukes in chunks. 8 cups sugar 4 cups cider vinegar 5% acidity 3 1/2 tsp. pickling and canning salt 2 Tbsp. pickling spices, tied in a bag. Drain and heat syrup for 3 more days. On 4th day, pack pickles into jars, seal with lid. Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes. I love these with tuna! I used pickle crisp on these and my dh says they are TOO crunchy. I like them crunchy. The pickle crisp didn't hurt mine at all. The notes and recipe are Linda Lou's original post. You drain off the water each day, boil fresh water, and pour over the cucumbers. Let sit a while to cool down before you cover them up. On the 5th day, drain off all the water. Cut cucumbers into chunks. Make the syrup, pour over the cut up cucumbers. Then, each day for 3 more days, pour off the syrup, bring syrup with the spice bag to a boil and pour back over the chunks of cucumbers. On the 4th day of the syrup, drain off, boil, pack pickles into jars, pour over the hot syrup, seal jars, and process in the BWB. "

posie4U-- here it is You will need some kind of crock (glass or glazed pottery)-- I bought a couple at Walmart year before last - they are clear glass (2 gallons each) with glass lids, sort of like the glass jars they used to have candy in at old timey general stores. Don't know if they still have them. Anyway this is the recipe. Lay crock on its side and pack cucumbers in as tightly as possible. (This recipe is not exact. I have tweaked it some with regard to quantities though, and it still works out fine.) These are the quantities I used for one - 2 gallon crock. Day 1 - Dissolve 2 cups of salt in 1 gallon of boiling water. Pour over cucumbers and let stand 24 hours. Day 2 - Dissolve 1 to 1 1/2 jars of powdered alum (the recipe is old and says a box of alum-- don't think it comes that way anymore - 1 used 1 and 1/2 containers - which were 1.9 ozs. each for the 2 gallon crock of pickles. Day 3 - Drain cukes. Pour fresh boiling water over cucumbers and let stand 24 hours. Day 4 - Drain. Boil together 1 gal. vinegar and about 1 oz. of pickling spice ( put spices in cheescloth or old clean handkerchief and tie up)-- put in pot with vinegar. After you pour the vinegar over the pickles, put the bag of spices in the top of the crock with the cucumbers. let stand for 9 DAYS. After 9 days - Drain cucumbers and slice crosswise. Put a layer of cucumbers and a layer of sugar in large plastic bowls or some type of non-reactive container. Use plenty of sugar so you have enough syrup to cover the cucumbers when you pack them in jars. (I think about 5-7+ lbs. for the 2 gallon crock.) Let the sugar melt and then fill clean jars. (qts. or pints) No need to process. These keep very well for a couple of years in a dark dry place. The amount of pickles you have depends on the size and quantity of cucumbers. But like I said I'm doing a 2 gallon crock and I expect to have probably about 5-7 qts. of pickles. For potato salad, chicken salad, etc. these are the absolute best. Make sure to chill before using. Please excuse the approximate quantities. This is a very old recipe, but I've never had a bad pickle. I will be glad to answer any questions.

You might be able to figure out a rough estimate of how much sugar and salt the brand you like uses based on the serving size nutritional information compared to the USDA calorie counter. Most of the calories are going to come from the sugar. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/jans-spicy-sweet-garlic-dill-pickles-699087 This says that 1 oz of this brand of pickles has 40 calories. 330 mg of sodium, which is 0.06695 tsp, it also has 10 g of sugar which is 2.029 tsp. According to the USDA 2 tsp of sugar has 32 calories and 1 oz of cucumber has 8 calories. 32 calories from the sugar + 8 calories from the cucumber = 40 calories per oz.