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Seven Day Pickles have been a family favorite around here for too many years to count. The tried-and-true recipe originally came from the grandmother of a dear friend and offers a taste of summer all year long!

 

 

 

Every summer, I look forward to making seven-day pickles.  Although the name implies a long, arduous process, the steps are quite simple and require just a few minutes most days. The reward is a sweet pickle that is unlike any other I have tried.  Growing up, I only liked dill pickles…until I tried these.

The main trick is to find a week when you will be home every day.  The last day is when the actual canning takes place although, to eliminate that step, the pickles can simply be packed in jars and stored in the refrigerator. Vinegar is an excellent preservative and, believe it or not, these pickles taste just as great after a year as they do right away.  They even keep their crunch.

 

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If you like sweet pickles, you MUST make these! They're crisp, crunchy, and loaded with flavor. The recipe has stood the test of generations, and even the dill pickle lovers of the world seem to devour them! So good in burgers, salads, and on their own! Save

The original recipe calls for seven pounds of cucumbers. I have found, however, that using a lesser amount of cucumbers ensures there is sufficient brine to cover the pickles in the jars and still yields plenty to save and to share. If you prefer a larger batch, I recommend using 1 1/2 times the brine recipe for amounts greater than four pounds and up to six or seven pounds of cucumbers. After that, I would double the brine…and make sure your bowl is really big!

 Seven Day Pickles have been a family favorite around here for too many years to count. The tried-and-true recipe came from the grandmother of a dear friend and offers a taste of summer all year long!Save

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Seven-Day Pickles

5 from 1 vote
I have always kept the bowl of pickles on the counter throughout the weeklong process. Recent food safety guidelines are stricter, however, and do recommend placing most food items in the refrigerator after two hours to avoid food-born illness. After day seven, I refrigerate the finished jars, where the pickles will keep indefinitely. If you choose to process the finished jars in a hot water bath, the pickles may then be stored at room temperature.
Yield: 4 pounds of cucumbers yield approximately 7 cups (3½ pints) of pickles.

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds of small cucumbers
  • Water to cover
  • 1 quart white vinegar
  • 8 cups sugar (don’t worry, this is just for the brining liquid; you don’t eat it all!)
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons mixed pickle spices (I buy a pickling blend available in the spice aisle; wrap in cheese cloth for easy removal)

Instructions

  1. Wash the cucumbers, drain well, and place them in a large, non-reactive bowl (this means ceramic, enamel or glass as opposed to metal). Pour boiling water over the cucumbers to cover. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. (Placing a dinner plate on top will help keep the cucumbers fully submerged.) The next day, drain and rinse the cucumbers. Place the cucumbers back in the bowl, and repeat this step each day for the first 4 days. (The cucumbers are always submerged. When drained, fresh boiling water is added until the process repeats itself the next day.)
  2. On the fifth day, drain and rinse the cucumbers, and then cut into approximately ¼-inch coins. (I prefer my pickles on the thicker side; adjust thickness according to your preference; see notes.) Put them back into the bowl.
  3. In a large pot (still on the fifth day), combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, and the wrapped spices. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then carefully pour over the cut cucumbers.
  4. Let stand for 24 more hours. On the sixth day, drain the syrup and bring it to a boil. Pour over the cucumbers.
  5. On the last day, drain the syrup again and bring to a boil. Add the cucumber slices and bring to the boiling point.
  6. Pack into clean canning jars, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Discard the bundle of spices. Process the jars for 10 minutes or store in the refrigerator.

Notes

When slicing the cucumbers into coins, make sure to cut off and discard approximately ⅛-inch of the blossom end. It contains an enzyme that can cause the pickles to soften over time if not removed.
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103 responses to “Seven-Day Pickles”

  1. I’ve looked for my mother’s recipe of these but the scrap of paper that was faded and worn out when I was a kid 50+years ago is long gone she made it from memory for the last decades she made them. She passed away unexpected and lots of her recipes have vanished as the youngest child I was stuck working in the field AND helping in the kitchen…luckily I took to cooking allowed me to bachelor until my 30’s. But I never learned the pickle recipe…I helped the physical making as she used an old ceramic milk churn and went through the making 2 or3 times depending how many cukes came out of her 1/2 acre garden…usually made 50-60 quarts and several pints every year and waterbathed them and stored in celler so kept a couple years but we always made a huge dent in the supply.

    1. Jerry, I’m glad you found this recipe and love the memories it brings to mind. Thank you for sharing. (Fifty to 60 quarts is quite an undertaking, by the way!)

  2. Leslie Avatar
    Leslie

    Hi, I made these for the first time, my mom use to make them every year and I was so glad to find this recipe! What does it mean when the cucumbers are white inside. I tried to buy the greenest pickling cukes but when I cut some they were white and I thought they might lighten up as they were soaking.

    1. Hi Leslie, I wish I could look at the cucumbers to understand what you are seeing, but it sounds like you aren’t seeing anything that looks like mold. The whiter than usual color is likely a result of growing conditions – excessive heat and/or water, or the cucumbers could be a little under or overripe. As long as they taste ok, they are probably fine to eat. Even if they are a touch bitter, you may find the pickling process and the sweeter brine counteracts that. I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

  3. Can you do a dill recipe doing the same instructions only add some dill weed and garlic

    1. I haven’t added dill to this recipe, Kim, but it would be worth trying if you’d like to infuse the sweet pickles with those flavors. If you do try, I’d love to know what you think!

  4. I made 2 batches. The first one I cut the cucumbers into 1/4” slices and followed the recipe. It turned out great. The second one the cucumbers were mush on the 4 th day. Should you cover the culex’s with water days 2 thru 4 after they’re rinsed?

    1. Yes, Randy. As the recipe explains, over the first four days, the cucumbers are covered with fresh boiling water as soon as they are drained. You want them to be submerged at all times. Stick with the way you did it the first time – that was perfect!

  5. Barbara Kassebaum Avatar
    Barbara Kassebaum

    I bought very fresh cucumbers from the local market growers on Saturday. I started the seven day process on Sunday. Tuesday, my cucumbers had turned to mush.
    They were average size, pickling, cucumbers, all uniform and size. Why would this happen?

    1. Hi Barbara, That’s so frustrating. My best guess is that the problem was with the cucumbers, not anything that you did. One time, I too bought fresh cucumbers from a local farm market and found that they had many hollow spots inside. I attributed this to something being amiss during the growing process, whether not enough/too much water, excess heat, etc. Did you cut into any of them by chance?

  6. Louise Dodd Avatar
    Louise Dodd

    I made these for the first time last week. They turned out beautifully! Reminding me of my mom’s crock pickles of the 70’s.
    Super crisp!

    1. Such great news, Louise! Thank you for letting me know.

    2. Jerry Allen Avatar
      Jerry Allen

      Did your mother use a ceramic milk churn? That what my momma used…she’d make at least 20 or so quarts and a couple of dozen pints per batch…that old milk churn held them and she had a special saucer that barely could be fitted through the narrowed neck and she mashed it down until liquid covered…then she had some rocks in a bag and weighed it down so no air got in…took a lit of pickling liquid to fill..she used 2 old pressure cookers as kettles to boil enough in. We ate these with every meal but breakfast. Additional took about 60-100 quarts to use up the cucumbers she grew (big garden) but we were thankful come late winter when still had pickles in the celler…they lasted about 2 years when waterbath sealed with rings on…once popped down you could take rings off for the next batcg and leave the sealed lids to preserve those delicious pickles. Mommas gone now and I got one if the last jars…didn’t open for a long time then thought “she’d be mad as a hornet to waste food” so I opened it and we ate them to her memory. Sure made supper taste better. I fixed our most common supper….using her old cast iron skillet I got….fried pork chops, fried taters, fried corn (seeing a pattern here?) And a big pot of pinto going since that morning, then took the skillet with the drippings left, put it into a 350 oven while i made a big bowl of her recipe cornbread and poured the drippings into the batter stirred it up, and poured into the hot skillet I had left some grease in, dusted with corn meal that was sizzling, poured in the batter, baked until done. Slice up an onion and a tomato and set them on the table with the pickles and the food and we felt like she was there.
      I’d sure like a jar of them but I’m bedridden under hospice care and can’t make them and can’t get anybody else to even attempt …wife volunteered but she’s nearly in bad shape as me and can barely use her right arm, so I guess I’ll take the memories with me just not that wonderful snap and sweet and tangy taste.