Edna Stonecipher's Moonshine Pickle Recipe

 

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National Pickling Cucumbers make awesome Moonshine Pickles!

Edna Stonecipher’s
MOONSHINE PICKLES

You need about 2 gallons of small cucumbers to make 1 gallon of finished pickles. Edna grew her pickles in her garden.  If you are buying your pickles, figure roughly 10~11 pounds of pickles.  A peck of pickles at the market is 12 pounds.

Put cucumbers in an enamel pan (don’t use aluminum), and cover them with boiling water, to which has been added ¾ cup of pickling salt.  Let them stand overnight, covered.

The next day drain all the liquid off and discard it.  Slice your cucumbers however you want, and pack them tightly in a gallon jar.  Then combine, but do not heat: 1 quart of vinegar (5% acidity apple cider vinegar), 4 T dry mustard, 4 T. pickling salt, 4 T sugar, ¾ t. alum, and 1/3 cup mixed pickling spices.  Pour the mixture over the cucumber slices in the jar. 

Now start with 3 lbs of sugar - weigh it out and set it aside. From this weighed stock, add ¼ cup to the pickles each morning, until it is all gone.  Each day you may have to skim some of the top off, or otherwise it will run all over down the sides of the jar.  When you've used up the 3 lbs of sugar, the pickles are done. We keep the jar on the kitchen counter throughout this process.

After the sugar addition is complete, Edna would leave them in the original jar, or divide them up into other smaller jars. She did not can them, just kept them refrigerated. She said she has had them in her refrigerator for up to a year ! We have water bath canned this recipe but find the pickles are slightly less crunchy. We usually keep ours in a jar in the frig, though it isn't very long until we've eaten them all!

Ingredients:
Pickles
Sugar
Pickling Salt
Dry Mustard
Alum
Vinegar
Mixed pickling spices

Edna Stonecipher, Uncle Kenny's mother on Scott's side of the family, was an avid gardener, canner and source of our recipe.

For another tasty delight, turn those excess or late season green tomatoes into yummy Fried Green Tomatoes!