7-day Sweet Pickle Chips

 From Mother Earth News Oct/Nov 2020 - a Mennonite recipe - yield 12 pints

• 10 pounds cucumbers
• ¼ c kosher or pickling salt
• 3 T alum or 5 T loose black tea from 8 tea bags
• 4 qt. Apple cider vinegar
• 10 c sugar, divided, plus 1 c if needed
• ¼ c pickling spice

Day 1: In large bowl or clean cooler, soak cubes in ice water 30 min. Drain. Trim off ends, slice into ¾ inch chunks. Pack into a 5 gallon or larger jar with lid. Cover with boiling water. Cool, cover, and let sit overnight.

Day 2: There may be some fluffy white foam on top, it’s lactobacillus and it’s healthy. Drain, rinse, the jar and put cukes back in - don’t rinse the cukes. In a 5-qt non-reactive pot, bring salt and 4 qt water to boil. Pour brine over cukes. Cool, cover, and let sit overnight.

Day 3: Drain the cukes, don’t rinse them, but do rinse the jar, and pack cukes back into the jar. In pot, bring alum or tea bags and 4 qt water to boil. Pour boiling water over cukes, discard any excess. Cool, cover, let sit overnight.

Day 4: Drain the cukes and rinse the jar. In pot, bring apple cider vinegar and 5 cups sugar to boil, stir to dissolve sugar. Put Pickling spice into a cheesecloth bundle or a tea ball and add to jar to cukes. Pour vinegar mix over the cukes. Cool. cover and let sit for THREE days.

Day 7: Drain pickles, reserving 2 cups of syrup. Dispose of the pickling spices. Put pickles into a giant bowl and scatter 4 c sugar over them. Stir well and let sit for about an hour. Pack pickles tightly into warm jars. The sugar will have drawn liquid out of the pickles. Pour syrup over the pickles, dividing evenly. Heat one cup of reserved spiced vinegar and remaining cup of sugar in a non-reactive saucepan, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Fill the jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. If the jars require additional liquid, remove the air bubbles and repack the jar. If they’re well-packed and still short of liquid, make another batch of syrup by boiling the remaining cup of reserved vinegar with another cup of sugar. Remove air bubbles with a chopstick. Place lids and rings on and tighten. Process in boiling water bath 5 min. 

Let pickles cure for a week or so, turning the jars over for the first few days to disperse and dissolve any sugar on the bottoms of the jars. Chill well before enjoying. The pickles are shelf-stable for 1 year.