14-day sweet pickles

Cucumbers, pickling, 2-inches long	3 ½ quarts
Salt, coarse pickling	1 cup
Water, boiling	2 quarts
Alum, powdered	½ teaspoon
Vinegar	5 cups
Sugar	3 cups + 1 ½ cups
Celery seeds	1 ½ teaspoons
Cinnamon, 2-inches long	4 sticks

1. Wash the cucumbers carefully; cut in lengthwise halves, and place in a stone crock, glass, pottery or enamel-lined (unchipped) pan.
2. Dissolve the salt in boiling water; pour over the cucumbers.
3. Weight cucumbers down with a plate almost as large as the crock, and lay a stone or paraffined brick (not marble or limestone) on the plate to keep the cucumbers under the brine; let stand 1 week.
4. On the 8th day, drain; pour 2 quarts fresh boiling water over the cucumbers; let stand 24 hours.
5. On the 9th day, drain; pour 2 quarts fresh boiling water mixed with the alum powder over the cucumbers; let stand 24 hours.
6. On the 10th day, drain; pour 2 quarts fresh boiling water over the cucumbers; let stand 24 hours.
7. On the 11th day, drain.
8. Combine the vinegar, 3 cups sugar, celery seeds, and cinnamon sticks in a medium saucepan; heat to boiling, and pour over the cucumbers.
9. For the next 3 days, drain and retain the liquid, reheating it each morning, adding 1/2 cup sugar each time.
10. After the last heating, on the 14th day, pack the pickles into hot pint jars.
11. Remove the cinnamon sticks; pour boiling hot liquid over the pickles; adjust lids at once.
12. Process in boiling water bath (212°F) for 5 minutes.
13. Remove the jars from the canner, and complete the seals unless closures are the self-sealing type.

Makes 5 to 6 pints.

Recipe from Freezing & Canning Cookbook, revised edition, copyright 1973.