This is a sweet, tangy, slightly spicy, yet crunchy pickle reminiscent of a bread and butter pickle but with more seasoning. I suppose if you aren’t a fan of sweet pickles (and a lot of people aren’t), you can just go back to the home page and look for something else to make. To date, I don’t have a dill pickle recipe, but check back in a year or two, and who knows.

My mom had this recipe on an index card in her collection, titled “Lime Pickles” with a note that they’re also called Back House Pickles. I’ve decided to keep the alternative name because when I told my spouse I was making lime pickles, they assumed I meant pickled limes.

And why would these be called lime pickles? It’s due to the chemical process for making them crunchy. The first day of a three-day pickling process involves soaking the cucumbers in a solution of calcium hydroxide, also known as slack lime or pickling lime.

This was my first attempt at making pickles. And while I’m happy with the flavor, I have some lessons still to learn about canning. For some reason that made sense at the time, I decided to opt for one giant jar rather than a whole bunch of little jars. This would be fine if I had a pot large enough to stand the tall jar inside and cover it with boiling water, but even my 20-quart stock pot wasn’t quite enough. So I made the fatal mistake of lying it on its side to seal the jar, thinking I had it sealed enough already. However, enough liquid leaked out that too much air got in and it’s no longer shelf stable, even though the lid sealed completely. My local social media hive mind advised that I can’t re-can it into smaller jars without the pickles getting overcooked and mushy. So…there will be a LOT of pickles to eat in the next few weeks. There may be a pickle party in my future. (Assuming, of course, that I have enough friends who won’t turn their noses up at a sweet pickle.)

Moral of the story: learn from my mistake, friends, and use smaller jars rather than one big one. Second moral, maybe just as relevant: this is a three-day process, and if you start on a Saturday, don’t try to do the canning before work on a Monday morning when you haven’t even had caffeine yet. This is a recipe for dumb decisions.

I’ve separated this recipe into three days’ worth of steps. Be sure to read everything before getting started, so you have enough ingredients and jars on hand.

Day 1: Lime
7 lbs. medium-sized pickling cucumbers
2 cups pickling/slack lime (an 8-oz. bag measured just under 2 cups but seemed to be plenty)
2 gallons water

Wash and slice the cucumbers. The original recipe says to cut 1/4-inch round slices, but spears work as well.

In a very large container (granite, crockery, or stainless), place the sliced cucumbers. In a separate large container (I used a smaller stock pot), mix together the lime and water. Be careful, as the lime can be caustic and the dust will fly up. (If it does weird things to cucumbers, it can probably do weird things to you, too.)

Pour the lime mixture over the pickles. Place something to weigh down the pickles so both pickles and liquid are covered. If you’re using a stock pot, a slightly smaller lid will do. Otherwise, try a plate and place a rock on top of the plate.

Let stand 24 hours, stirring occasionally as the lime settles.

Day 2: Pickling
2 quarts vinegar
8 cups sugar
2 tablespoons celery seed
2 tablespoons salt
2-4 tablespoons whole pickling spice*

*You can buy this pre-made, or make a mix with the following:
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons mustard seed
2 tablespoons coriander seed
2 tablespoons dill seed
1 tablespoon allspice berries
10-12 dried bay leaves, crumbled
(Optional) juniper berries 

Pour off the lime water and wash thoroughly. Rinse several times to get the lime off.

The pickles will be very brittle now — it’s a little unsettling at this stage, but they will soften up again.

Soak in cold water for 3 hours. Meanwhile, mix the pickling ingredients together. Don’t worry if the sugar doesn’t dissolve completely; you’ll be cooking it tomorrow.

Pour the water off the pickles and pour on the pickling mixture. Use your lid/plate to weigh everything down again.

Let stand overnight.

Day 3: Cooking/Canning
Get your jars and canning equipment sterilized.

Bring the pickles and liquid to a boil. If the sugar hadn’t already dissolved, stir it on the heat until it does. Simmer for 35 minutes, then put the pickles in canning jars.

Ladle boiling pickling liquid over them (leave about 1/4″ of air at the top) and seal.

Refer to these canning tips if they’re helpful.