12 Day Sweet Pickles Recipe
Old-fashioned sweet pickles ready in 12 days. Tips for brining, alum for crunch, vegan sugar, jar sterilizing, and safe storage.
This 12 Day Sweet Pickles Recipe was one of many from Rose's grandmother Amelia Richards.
Submitted by: Rose Respondek from Bad Axe, Michigan
- This recipe uses a 7-day salt soak, two 24-hour water/alum steps, then three days of hot syrup treatments to make crisp, sweet pickles.
- Sterilize jars and pour boiling syrup to help seal and prevent bacteria. Use food-grade alum or calcium chloride for crunch.
- For vegan pickles swap in beet or organic cane sugar. If you want pantry-stable jars, process them in a boiling water bath before storing.
Spices
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Preparation Instructions:
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does the 12-day timeline include?
The process is: a 7-day salt soak, two separate 24-hour steps (one with boiled cooled water, one with alum in boiled cooled water), then three days of syrup treatments where you pour hot syrup over the cucumbers, reheating the syrup each day. That adds up to 12 days.
Why do I use alum and is it safe?
Food-grade alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) helps keep pickles crisp. Use the small amount called for in the recipe and buy food-grade alum. If you prefer not to use alum, calcium chloride sold as Pickle Crisp is a common substitute and works well to firm cucumbers.
Can I use any cucumbers?
Pickling cucumbers give the best texture and flavor. If your cucumbers are larger, cut them into 2-3 inch lengths so they soak and pickle evenly. Very soft or seedy cucumbers are not ideal.
How should I sterilize jars and lids?
Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water. Then keep jars hot by simmering them in boiling water for 10 minutes or running a hot, sanitizing dishwasher cycle. Keep lids in hot water (but do not boil the sealing compound) until you fill jars. Use tongs and fill while jars are hot.
Do I need to process the jars in a water bath?
If you want shelf-stable pickles stored in the pantry, process filled jars in a boiling water bath for the recommended time for your jar size and altitude, typically 10 to 15 minutes. If you skip processing, refrigerate the pickles and plan to use them within a few months.
How do I make this recipe vegan?
Use beet sugar or organic evaporated cane juice labeled vegan instead of conventional white sugar. Some white sugar is filtered with bone char. Note that switching sugar types can change color and taste slightly.
Why do I reboil the syrup and pour it back over the cucumbers multiple days?
Reheating and pouring the syrup helps it penetrate the cucumbers and mellow the flavors slowly. Boiling the syrup each time also helps kill surface bacteria and ensures the syrup is hot when it goes into jars.
How long will the pickles keep and how do I spot spoilage?
Properly canned and sealed pickles can keep up to a year in a cool pantry. Refrigerated pickles should be eaten within a few months. Toss any jar with a bulging lid, off smell, mold, or cloudy or foamy syrup, and do not taste a jar that looks suspect.
What does the 12-day timeline include?
The process is: a 7-day salt soak, two separate 24-hour steps (one with boiled cooled water, one with alum in boiled cooled water), then three days of syrup treatments where you pour hot syrup over the cucumbers, reheating the syrup each day. That adds up to 12 days.
Why do I use alum and is it safe?
Food-grade alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) helps keep pickles crisp. Use the small amount called for in the recipe and buy food-grade alum. If you prefer not to use alum, calcium chloride sold as Pickle Crisp is a common substitute and works well to firm cucumbers.
Can I use any cucumbers?
Pickling cucumbers give the best texture and flavor. If your cucumbers are larger, cut them into 2-3 inch lengths so they soak and pickle evenly. Very soft or seedy cucumbers are not ideal.
How should I sterilize jars and lids?
Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water. Then keep jars hot by simmering them in boiling water for 10 minutes or running a hot, sanitizing dishwasher cycle. Keep lids in hot water (but do not boil the sealing compound) until you fill jars. Use tongs and fill while jars are hot.
Do I need to process the jars in a water bath?
If you want shelf-stable pickles stored in the pantry, process filled jars in a boiling water bath for the recommended time for your jar size and altitude, typically 10 to 15 minutes. If you skip processing, refrigerate the pickles and plan to use them within a few months.
How do I make this recipe vegan?
Use beet sugar or organic evaporated cane juice labeled vegan instead of conventional white sugar. Some white sugar is filtered with bone char. Note that switching sugar types can change color and taste slightly.
Why do I reboil the syrup and pour it back over the cucumbers multiple days?
Reheating and pouring the syrup helps it penetrate the cucumbers and mellow the flavors slowly. Boiling the syrup each time also helps kill surface bacteria and ensures the syrup is hot when it goes into jars.
How long will the pickles keep and how do I spot spoilage?
Properly canned and sealed pickles can keep up to a year in a cool pantry. Refrigerated pickles should be eaten within a few months. Toss any jar with a bulging lid, off smell, mold, or cloudy or foamy syrup, and do not taste a jar that looks suspect.
This is basically the same recipe that my Aunt Ella made for years. These are the best pickles ever! A can was placed on the “kid’s table” at family gatherings, and when the adults came back a minute later, the jar was empty! They are that good!
I can’t believe it! I have my Grandmothers pickle recipe which must be around 65 years old and I notice the same recipe is posted by you. For over 30 years I have had 2 jars of her remaining cucumbers with juice and I have from time to time taken myself back as if a child again to her kitchen. By taking a sniff into her jar. This is the same recipe as yours and I am delighted to find a fellow friend of this magical recipe! I am now going to make them as I have at last found out what a cassia bud is. Hurray for cassia bud pickles, long may they live.
I make these pickles every year. They are excellant-if my family is here a jar is quickly “devoured”!! It is getting very difficult to obtain cassia buds here so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to make them—HELP !! I have had this same recipe for many years (love it !).