Pickles? Six days? Why??? Answer: These are amazing. This is my grandmother's recipe. And, for myself and my brother, they are as delicious as they are in our childhood memories. Translucent, crunchy sweet/sour pickles, kind of like bread-and-butter's. 

Translucent pickle slices on top of grilled cheese. Simple perfection.

They are especially good on top of a grilled cheese sandwich. My children love them too. The recipe, as it was given to me, was very light on instructions, and included wonderful measurements like "salt to float an egg", and "alum the size of an egg". Yes indeed, an egg will float if you add enough salt to the water. Fun fun fun. :)

3 gallon Blue Crown stoneware crock sitting on a 15" Fiesta Pizza Tray.

So, can you dex+ a dill pickle? Why yes, yes you can. Above is my crock, and below you can see the  brine where the cucumbers are weighted down by a plate, fermenting in salty water. I am trying to put away enough pickles to hold through until next spring, and give some to my mom and brother as gifts.

9" Plate used as a weight to sink cucumber slices.

Treasure. Sweet pickles.

Ma's Six Day Pickles Dex+

Ingredients:

Brine

• 1 gallon cucumber slices (4 - 4 1/2 lbs, ~24 at 5 to 6” long x 1 to 1 3/8” diameter)
• water to cover cucumbers by 2” (5 quarts water)
• salt to float an egg (1.5 lb pickling salt)

Alum Boil

• lump of alum the size of egg (2 oz alum powder)

Spice Bag Boil

• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 1 tsp celery seed
• 1 cinnamon stick

Pickle Syrup

• 240 g (1.2 cups) sugar
• 1043 g (9 cups) dextrose
• 76 g (0.9 cup) Benefiber
• 1 quart vinegar
• 1 pint water
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp Accent

Equipment:

• 2-3 gallon pickling crock
• 7 1-pint canning jars, bails, and fresh new lids
• canning equipment (pot, rack, funnel, tongs)

Directions:

1. Trim off and discard cucumber ends. Cut cucumbers into 3 mm slices; feeding one at a time through a food processor works well. Discard any undesired slivers or pieces. Two cups more or less than a gallon is fine. Place cucumber slices into the crock.
2. Mix water with enough salt to float an egg. Pour over cucumbers. Use an inverted plate, ziplock full of water, or other weight method to sink the cucumbers. Discard or use additional weights (smaller inverted plate) to sink any slices that escape and float to the top to prevent mold.
3. Let stand six days, occasionally checking for and sinking or discarding  escaped slices.

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4. Drain cucumbers, cover with cold water, and add alum. Boil 10 min.

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5. Drain and cover with cold water. Add spice bag. Boil another 10 min. and drain.

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6. Add cucumbers to a pot with pickle syrup ingredients. Boil until cucumbers look transparent.
7. Put in jars and refrigerate, or process according to canning instructions, water bath method, for acidic food. Boiling time is 10 minutes. http://www.freshpreserving.com/tools/waterbath-canning