Buckets!! Score!

[baymule]

I was given 2 plastic grocery bags of cucumbers to make pickles with. I soak them 24 hours in lime water to make them crisp and needed buckets. I went to the friendly neighborhood doughnut shop and got 4 buckets with lids for only $6!! The 2 smaller ones are probably 2 gallon, the big one is probably 4-5 gallon and the square one is prpbably 4 gallon. Cucumbers are sliced and soaking in the bucket So if anyone is needing buckets, I reccomend the doughnut shop. They buy their frostings and fillings in nice buckets!

 

[moolie]

Great score

Tell me more about soaking the cukes? I've never heard of that!

I've had super luck getting my buckets from my local co-op grocery store bakery, they get all of their muffin mixes, icing, and fillings in buckets

 

[baymule]

I always make lime pickles, they are so crisp. Slice the cukes, put in bucket and cover with water. Add 2-3 cups of pickling lime, I weigh the cuke slices down with a plate to keep them submerged. Drain cukes, wash thoroughly and soak in cold water with 2 cups vinegar. Then I drain the cukes and put them in a big pot, cover with water and simmer until the cukes are translucent, about 2 hours. Make syrup with equal parts apple cider vinegar and sugar, 8 cups vinegar to 8 cups sugar. Add package or spice bottle of pickling spice to the vinegar/sugar. The recipe called for putting the spices in a bag and discarding it, but my great grandmother and my grandmother always dumped the spices in and so do I. The pickling spice goes in the jar with the pickles. Then follow regular procedure, fill hot jars with hot pickles and fill with hot syrup, clamp on hot lid and ring, twist tight. Then wait for the ping that tells you the jar sealed. Put a jar in the refrigerator and chill, you'll eat the whole jar at one sitting!

 

[the funny farm6]

My grandma used to make lime pickles. They were sweet then tart when you ate them. I could eat a jar by myself. She never would tell me exactly how she made them and now she has altzimers. I know the general directions but never the "special" part. So I guess for the next 20+ years I get to experament. she also cut her slices thick like @ 1-1 1/2" thick.

 

[baymule]

I also make a lime pickle using red hots candy in the syrup with cinnamon sticks. The pickles taste like cinnamon candy!

 

[Cindlady2]

My grandma used to make lime pickles. They were sweet then tart when you ate them. I could eat a jar by myself. She never would tell me exactly how she made them and now she has altzimers. I know the general directions but never the "special" part. So I guess for the next 20+ years I get to experament. she also cut her slices thick like @ 1-1 1/2" thick.

Don't ya just hate that!? My great grandma made the best doughnuts... after 40 years I'm still trying to get it right! I've tried to let my kids know all the good recipes I have, but allot is by just "knowing" or "feeling" when it's right. :/

Buckets.... I am lucky there! DH works for a wholesale restaurant supply c o. that has a retail store too. I get all the buckets I want in a bunch of sizes FREE! 50 lbs. of chicken feed fit real nice in 2 big buckets... and I can lift those! I've made feeders out of them too.

Good luck with the pickles!

 

[the funny farm6]

My daughter works for a fast food resturant and they save me the 5 gal buckets from the pickles. They go threw 3-4 a week. They also have 1 gal pails that their ice cream mix comes in. And they are all food grade. Takes a bit to wash out the pickle smell but they are free so... I store feed, make laundry soap, and have made chicken feeders and waterers out of them. Next summer when my chickens are laying, and have plenty of eggs, they are going to leave the juice in a couple and I am going to use it to pickle eggs.

 

[moolie]

Thanks for the recipe/instructions!

My Oma passed away at age 97 almost a year ago, my last surviving grandparent. Every time an elderly person dies, it's like a library burning down--so much wisdom is lost. I'm fortunate that my Oma taught me so much about cooking and household management, but I still miss her and hearing about all of her life experiences--she lived through so much. Same with my Grandma, who passed when I was 13.

I keep a recipe binder with everything I use regularly in it--photocopies, newspaper clippings, handwritten cards from friends/relatives and my Mom--and it's also all scanned into a folder on my computer and backup hard drive. When my girls leave home, they will each get an identical binder so they can cook and preserve just like Mom as they add their own culinary discoveries!

 

[BACOG]

the funny farm6,

Try scrubbing your pickle buckets with a strong baking soda solution. It has worked for me.

 

[the funny farm6]

thanks, i have been washing them wish dish soap and letting them air outside till i need them.