Cucumbers have always been a top priority when deciding what to plant in my garden. Our family loves to eat them raw and I love to pickle them. A favorite recipe to can for years was Seven Day Sweet Pickles. This recipe can be found in old cookbooks from our grandmother’s time. The original recipe took quite a lot of sugar but you can have the same crunchy sweet pickle using Stevia.

Stevia is the only sugar substitute I use in canning pickles. Sugar Alcohols like Erythritol and Xylitol will make pickles soft over time. If there is one thing I dislike; that is mushy pickles! Even the picky eaters in our family loves these pickles because they stay crunchy. .

I plant pickling cucumber for canning and burpless cucumbers for fresh eating. Pickling cucumber have a lighter color skin and are shorter and blocker than fresh eating cucumbers. I bought a pack of 4 pickling cucumber plants at our local garden center this spring. They must have loved the soil and our weather because they kept producing until I had 65 quarts of pickles preserved. We even ate quite a number of them raw. I have never had pickle plants that produced like this ever before.

Both my husband and I grew up in families that loved to garden and preserve food. My family loved the zesty dill pickles and my mother-in-law made the best sweet pickles. I, now, preserve both kinds of pickles and we enjoy the variety it brings to our table.

We also enjoy Cold-brined pickles that I store in my spare fridge. These pickles are packed into jars raw and a brine is poured over them. The jars are set in the fridge for a few weeks before eating.

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Seven Day Sweet Pickles THM-FP

• 12 pounds pickling cucumbers
• Boiling water
• Syrup:
• 4 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 3/4 teaspoons THM Stevia
• 6 cups water
• 2 tablespoons canning salt
• 1 tablespoon celery salt
• 4 tablespoons pickling spice
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• pint canning jars
• Day 1: Wash pickles to remove dirt and the little prickles. Place whole pickles in a large crock or stainless steel kettle. Pour boiling water over pickles until they are completely covered. Let set a room temperature.
• Days 2, 3, 4: Each day drain water off of pickles. Discard water. Fill a kettle with fresh water and bring to a boil. Pour over pickles until completely covered. Let set a room temperature.
• Day 5: Drain the water off the pickles. Discard water. Cut the pickles in 1/2 inch pieces, discarding the blossom and stem ends. In a kettle combine vinegar, Stevia, water, and salt . I place the pickling spice, ,celery salt, and garlic powder in a muslin bag and sew it shut. This will keep the brine clear. Add the spice packet to the syrup. Bring to a boil. Pour over pickles. Let set a room temperature.
• Day 6: Pour the brine into a kettle. Bring to a boil. Pour over the pickles. Let set a room temperature.
• Day 7: Prepare you water bath canner by filling with water and bringing it to a boil. Reduce heat to keep the water in the canner hot. Wash pint canning jars. Set aside. Place the pickles and brine in a large kettle. Bring to a boil. Pack pickles into jars. Discard spice bag. Add brine to filled pickle jars. Wipe the edge of jar’s rim clean. Twist on lids and rings. With canning tongs place jars in the prepared water bath canner. Bring water to a full boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. With canning tongs remove jars from canner. Allow to cool 24 hours. Check for seal. Store in a cool dry place.

I love to use 2 gallon crocks to make pickles but stainless steel kettles work well, too.

These pickles are waiting to have the brine poured over them. See how the boiling water has partially cooked the pickles making them appear clear.

Here is the small bag I have sewn together to hold the spices. This will keep the brine clear of particles. When I am ready to can the pickles, I toss the spice bag in the trash.

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There are many more canning and preserving recipes (over 60) in  Around the Family Table Cookbook which features over 600 pages or recipes from a Mennonite mother of eight who loves to cook. These recipes are styled after the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating and are labeled with the correct fuels. There is also DIY recipes for Baking Mix and Sweetener that are more economical. Check out our NEW blog store at this link … https://aroundthefamilytableblog.com/store/