Reduced Sodium Sweet Pickles
A sweet pickle with a lower sodium content than normal. I added some cauliflower because I like it.
A sweet pickle with a lower sodium content than normal. I added some cauliflower because I like it.
- Carbohydrate 43.7704423759794 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.294962328696668 g
- Fiber 0.325355949162765 g
- Protein 0.431088832518515 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0346195341589379 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (107g)
- Sodium 141.90926445869 mg
- Sugar 43.4450864268166 g
- Trans Fat 0.0445940602658841 g
- Calories 177 calories
Step-by-step
- Thoroughly wash cucumbers, scrubbing lightly with a soft vegetable brush removing all dirt and sand. Discard stem and blossom ends. Cut cucumbers into 1/4 inch slices.
- In a large stainless steel saucepan combine 1/2 cup sugar, pickling salt, mustard seed and 4 cups vinegar; bring toa a boil. Add cucumbers; boil gently 5 to 7 minutes, just until cucumbers change colour from bright to dull green.
- Drain cucumbers discarding cooking solution.
- In a separate saucepan, prepare pickling liquid - combine 3 cups sugar, allspice, celery seed and 1 2/3 cups vinegar; bring to a boil.
- Pack cucumbers into hot jar to within 1/2 inch of top rim. Add hot pickling liquid to cover cucumbers to within 1/4 inch of top rim (headspace). Using a nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles. Whipe jar rim removing any stickiness.
- Center snap lid on jar; apply screw band securely and firmly until resistance is met - fingertip tight. Do not overtighten. Place jar in canner; repeat for remaining jars.
- Cover canner; bring water to a boil. At altitudes up to 1000 ft, process - boil filled jars - 10 minutes. Remove jars without tilting. Cool upright, undisturbed for 24 hours. Do not retighten screw bands. After cooling check jar seals. Sealed lids curve downward. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars as desired. Label and store jars in a cool dark place.
- Yield 6 pint jars or 3 quart jars.
Bright green coins rest in a sharply sweet brine infused with whole allspice and mustard seeds, offering a crisp crunch that balances high sugar content with restrained saltiness. Pickling traditionally relies on sodium chloride not merely for taste, but to draw out moisture from plant tissues and inhibit spoilage bacteria. Reducing salt changes the osmotic pressure during preservation, requiring precise thermal processing to achieve shelf stability without compromising safety.
- Scrub cucumbers thoroughly with a soft vegetable brush to eliminate surface microorganisms before slicing them into uniform one-quarter-inch rounds.
- Boil the cucumber slices in the initial vinegar and sugar solution for five to seven minutes until they shift from a bright green to a dull olive shade, signaling that heat has penetrated the cellular walls.
- Maintain a proper headspace of one-quarter inch when pouring the hot secondary pickling liquid over the packed jars to allow for vacuum seal formation during processing.
- Process the filled jars in a boiling water canner for exactly 10 minutes at altitudes up to 1,000 feet.
- Cool the processed jars completely undisturbed for 24 hours upright on a towel before checking that the center of the snap lid curves downward.
Properly sealed jars store indefinitely in a cool, dark environment when screw bands are removed after cooling. Monitoring the visual cues of the lid curve ensures long-term preservation despite the lower sodium content.
