Sweet pickles


      Fill a crock with water with enough salt to float a raw egg. Weight your cucumbers down in crock so they cannot float
      on top. Leave for ten (10) days. (No, they are not ruined.) Wash cukes and slice. Place in alum water to cover (1/2
      box alum to each gallon of water). Change alum water each day for three days. Place in a strong ginger bath, boiling
      hot, and let cool while you make the pickling syrup. Use equal parts of white vinegar and sugar to cover the cukes. Tie
      pickling spices in a bag. Let the syrup come to a boil with bag in syrup. Add cukes and boil for about thirty (30)
      minutes. Pour everything back into the crock. Each day for eight (8) days pour off the solution, bring it to a boil, and
      pour it back over the cukes. On the ninth day boil the cukes in the solution for five minutes and put in jars. Note: This
      sounds like a lot of trouble but it really isn't because it just takes a few minutes per day and I promise you these pickles
      will never get soft. {If your cucumbers are very large, cut them into large chunks before you start.}

      jackie