Sweet Pickles - For canning cucumbers

This is a recipe that has been in the family of my husband Bruce's for 100 +
years. I modified it to modern times. Only thing I did was use
pickling spice instead of the 10 or so individual spices it calls for.
Other then that, follow this to a T and get atleast 7 PINT jars of these babies!
Awesome with cornbread and butterbeans/beansoup for yanks. LOL

Tips: Stir pickles every 1/2 hour unless your sleeping LOL, while
it is soaking in the lime. This will make them crisp and stay crisp.
The lime will fall to bottom is why i say keep stirring it lol.

Recipe:

Soak 7lbs of spear slices cucumbers that has been peeled
in 2 gallons of water in which
3 cups of "pickling lime" has been dissolved for 24 hours. We gently remove the seeds
with the backend of a plastic spoon. you will need a bucket or HUGE bowl.

Drain this and soak for 4 hours "changing" the water every hour. Very important.
Then drain and set aside for a bit.

To a big old cooking pan add:

5lbs of sugar - 1 bag of it actually yes 1 bag
3 pints of "Apple Cider" vinegar - must be apple for color effect change.
3 1/4 teaspoons of pickling spice - found in spices area at store
use a tea dropper thing or a cooking cloth and tie this up and put
it in the pan also.
Bring this to a rolling boil. Then pour this over the cucumbers and let this
sit out on your countertop overnight. I let mine sit 10 - 12 hours.
Still this carefully when you can to keep the top ones covered in
the juices. Or when going to bed place a plate with something heavy on it to
keep them babies submerged.

In the morning bring this entire mixture, cukes and all to a boil and boil
for 1 hour. Pack jars, wipe rims and water bath for 10 minutes. make
sure water is atleast 1 inch or no more then 2 inches above top
of the jars. Use pint jars. Wait 24 hours. Check seals for any
popping. If you hear popping re-process in water bath for 10 minutes.

Theses iced sweet pickles are fantastic with butter beans and cornbread or toasted cheese sandwiches on loaf bread.
Your gonna love these.