Question
My mother and grandmother used to make very, very sour pickles, using big cucumbers. They put them in glass gallon jugs they got from restaurants, that had contained relish, pickles, etc. As a matter of fact I still have one of the jugs with the dill pickle label on it.

I don't recall the details, but I know my mother would put these large cukes in the gallon jug, fill with whatever vinegar mixture she used, put the cover on, and tell us not to touch them for 6 to 8 weeks, because that was how long it took to turn sour. Every year she made several gallons.

My grandmother died in 1970 and my mother in 2010, and along with them went the recipe. My mother had a recipe box full of her favorites and the pickle recipe was in there, but that disappeared, so I hsve no idea what the recipe was. Her sister had a recipe for sour pickles that most likely the same one, but she says to use small cukes and to seal the jar(s). It's made with vinegar, salt, sugar, spices and dry mustard. That sounds similar to what my mother used, but she didn't seal the jugs.

Most recipes I have seen in books or on the internet say to seal the jars. Is there a recipe that allows for pickles to be made, using apple cider vinegar, without sealing the jars? Wouldn't the vinegar and salt preserve the pickles?

I know my mother never sealed those gallon jugs because, even thought she said it took 6-8 weeks to turn sour, after a couple weeks we would begin opening the jugs to sample and see how far along they were. Then we'd just screw the cover back on.

Almost all the recipes I see call for small cukes. My mother used large cukes 6 - 8" long. The finished product was very sour. One of my friends and I used to take a pickle, cut it in half and try to bite off a piece and chew it without puckering up and swinting out eyes. We never did it. They were just to sour.

Answer
Dear Jerry,
As a rule, no one is going to suggest you do any canning without also giving instruction to seal the jar.  As for the size of the cucumbers, that's an arbitrary choice.  Most recipes recommend using small cucumbers, but large ones soak up the spices just as well.  The one difference between large and small cucumbers can be crispness, in that smaller ones are usually firmer.  Other than that, I'm not sure what else to tell you.  Pickles will remain good in jars for ages after the seal is broken, but I do seal all the pickles I put up, and refrigerate them after opening.
I hope this helps.
Kind Regards,
KD Liz
www.thelandofgoshen.com