This recipe makes crispy and crunchy pickles for home canning with a nice balance of sweet and sour, so that when you bite into one, you can’t decide if you are shivering from the “ice water” name, or the pucker power.
This recipe makes a lot; you may wish to cut it in half.
Per 4 pickles, the regular version is 25 calories and 236 mg sodium; a sugar and salt-free version has 18 calories and 4 mg sodium.
The recipe
Jar size choices: half-litre (1 US pint / 500 ml/ 16 oz) OR 1 litre (US quart / 32 oz)
Processing method: Water bath or steam canning
Yield: 12 x half-litre (US pint) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)
Processing time: Either size jar 10 minutes
Ice Water Pickles
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ kg pickling cucumbers (6 lbs)
- 1 onion (large)
- celery
- mustard seed
- 3 litres white vinegar (5% acidity or higher. 3 US quarts / 12 cups / 96 oz )
- 350 g pickling salt (1 cup / 12 oz)
- 100 g sugar (½ cup / 4 oz)
Instructions
- Wash cucumbers.
- Trim small sliver off each end.
- Cut cucumbers into spears.
- Cover with ice water and let soak 3 hours.
- In each half-litre (1 US pint) jar put: a few strips of onion, a piece of celery (2 to 3 cm / 1 inch), 1 teaspoon of mustard seed. Double for the litre / quart - sized jars.
- Pack cucumber spears into jars, leaving 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- Put vinegar into a large pot. Add salt, sugar, and bring to the boil on the stove (or put it in something large enough and microwave safe, and zap it till boiling. Be cautious of surging when moving microwave-heated liquids.)
- Pour heated vinegar into jars, leaving 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- If you are short of heated vinegar, just quickly zap some more.
- Debubble, adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process either size jar for 10 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude (see table below.)
Nutrition
Processing guideline times below differ slightly from the usual altitude changes. The times apply equally to water-bath canners or steam canners.
| Required processing time in minutes per altitude | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jar Size | 0 - 300 m / 0 - 1,000 ft | 301 - 900 m / 1,001 - 3,000 ft | 901 - 1,800 m / 3,001 - 6,000 ft | Above 1,800 m / 6,000 |
| ½ litre (US pint) | 10 min | 15 min | 15 min | 20 min |
| 1 litre (US quart) | 10 min | 15 min | 15 min | 20 min |
Reference information
How to water bath process.
How to steam can.
When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.
More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.
Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.
Recipe notes
- Note that the size of pickling cucumbers used will affect how many go into a jar, and therefore how much pickling liquid is needed.
- Instead of the sugar, you could use the same volume amount of Splenda® OR 1 teaspoon liquid stevia (we recommend Better Stevia liquid stevia )
- Instead of salt, you could use non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub. As salt sub can be pricey, rather than using the same full amount of salt sub as salt, we used only 6 tablespoons of salt sub. For salt substitute, a non-bitter, non-clouding one such as Herbamare Sodium-Free was used. See: reducing salt in fresh-pack pickles.
Recipe source
This is an old-time recipe which has been validated with lab testing to ensure it still meets modern standards.
Ice Water Pickles. In: Andress, Elizabeth L. and Judy A. Harrison. So Easy to Preserve. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Bulletin 989. Sixth Edition. 2014. Page 132.
Modifications made:
- Changed small pearl onions to a few strips of onion;
- Added option for smaller ½ litre (US pint) jars (processing time stays the same);
- Suggested sugar and salt subs.
Nutrition information
Regular version
Per 50 g / 4 pickles:
- 25 calories, 236 mg sodium
Sugar and salt-free version
Per 50 g / 4 pickles:
- 18 calories, 4 mg sodium
Notes: 500 g of pickle solids per litre / quart jar. 4 pickles = 50 g / one-tenth of the jar. 10 servings per large jar of 4 pickles a serving. So 60 servings of 4 pickles per large jar.
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.
* Herbamare ® is a registered trademark of the A. Vogel Corporation.
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