Ingredients:
Day 1:
2 gallons of cucumbers
2 cups of pickling lime *
8 ½ quarts of water
Day 2:
Step 2:
1 Tbs Alum
1 cup Apple Cider vinegar
2 oz bottle of red food coloring
Step 3:
3 cups of white vinegar
3 cups of water
20-30 red hots
15 cups of sugar
12 cinnamon sticks
Day 1: Use large cucumbers that are begging to yellow. Peel and cut into ½ in. rings and remove seeds. Mix pickling lime with 8 ½ quarts of water. Pour over rings and let stand for 24 hours.
Day 2: Step 1 & 2: Drain and wash several times to remove lime. Let it stand in ice water for 3 hours. Step 3: Drain it. Then cover with 1 cup apple cider vinegar, food coloring, and alum. Add enough water to cover and simmer for 3 hours, then drain. Step 4: Make syrup of 3 cups of vinegar, 3 cups of water, cinnamon sticks, red hots, and sugar. Heat until red hots are dissolved. Put rings in a separate pan or bowl and pour boiling syrup over them.
Day 3-5: Drain off syrup, reheat syrup and bring to boiling and put back over rings.
Day 6: Reheat the syrup, put rings into jars, cover with syrup, sill and hot water bath them for 5 min.
* When using pickling lime you do not want to have skin contact with the pickling lime and water mixture.