Nanny's 7 Day Sweet Pickles are super crispy and sweet! This easy to make, old fashioned recipe was always a favorite of mine. There is no heat required and is an excellent way to preserve summer's harvest!
These Crisp Sweet Pickles are a crunchy dark green pickle with a sweet and tangy vinegar bite. While it does take a full 7 days to make these pickles, it involves very little work. And, they are super simple to make!
🥒 PICKLING CUCUMBERS
My family has always processed their fruits and vegetables from their gardens. I remember my mom making my Aunt Bonnie’s Garlic Dill Pickle Recipe and how lovely the house smelled with all the vinegar, dill, and garlic in the air.
Mom didn’t make the Crisp Sweet Pickle recipe as my dad didn't care for sweet pickles. But, my Grandmother would make them, and I'm happy she did! I remember being at Nanny’s house when she had her pickles in process in a ceramic crock. The pickling process was always very interesting to me!
Pickling FAQs
What is the best cucumber to use for making a crisp sweet pickle recipe?
The best cucumber is one grown specifically for pickling. The seed packet will indicate they are specifically for pickling. I like this brand.
How are Crisp Sweet Pickles different from Bread and Butter Pickles?
The biggest difference between these two sweet pickle recipes is the method used to pickle them. Crisp Sweet Pickles are not cooked on the stove top, whereas Bread and Butter Pickles are brought to a simmer then sealed, without the 7 day fermentation process.
Why do you soak cucumbers in water before processing your crisp sweet pickle recipe?
Soaking your cucumbers in water helps to ensure their freshness and helps to improve their texture and flavor.
Do you have to refrigerate crisp sweet pickles in the refrigerator once they have been packed in jars?
There is no need to refrigerate them once they have been jarred. You can place a jar in the refrigerator to make them cold before consumption and once opened I always store the jar in the refrigerator until that jar is emptied.
What do I do with the syrup on day 7 after packing pickles in the jars?
The syrup needs to go into the jars with the pickles, or the pickles will not be sweet. You can do this one of two ways. Drain the syrup and add it to the vinegar solution, or, add the syrup with the pickles while you are packing.
Do I need to rinse the pickles every day before adding fresh water?
No. Fermented pickles should not be rinsed.
What is the foamy stuff on top of my cucumbers, have they gone bad?
No, this is the fermentation you are seeing. This is a good thing.
Should I process these sweet crisp pickles in a hot water bath canner?
If you are doing a hot pack (as the recipe instructs) you should not have to process in a canner. However, you can do so for 15 minutes if you wish. If the pickles do not seal with hot pack, you will need to process in the canner anyway. All pickles that have not sealed should be refrigerated.
Pickling Process
Please note that the following is a walk through instruction ONLY. Many people are emailing me following the brief instruction in this section. The recipe card is printable without ads, so please, I encourage you to go to the recipe card to print the recipe and follow those instructions. Tips and recommendations are added to the recipe card.
Day 1, wash the cucumbers, removing any dirt and debris they may have once removed from the garden. Once washed, you can trim and slice the cucumbers.
(Please refer to the recipe card for complete instructions)
You will need a gallon sized, food safe jar for fermenting the pickles. Place the cucumber slices in the jar and cover in boiling water. They will sit undisturbed for 24 hours. You can cover the pickles but they do not have to be sealed shut tight. This is mainly to protect anything from getting in the jar.
Day 2, drain the water on the cucumbers and cover them with salt and fresh boiling water.
Day 3, add the powdered alum to the cucumbers before adding the boiling water. The powdered alum is to help keep the pickles crisp and if it is skipped, your pickles will not be as crispy as they would be with it.
Day 4, drain the pickles and add the spice packet to the jar. Next, bring the cider vinegar and pour it over the cucumbers. After they are covered with vinegar, they will sit undisturbed in day 5 and day 6!
Day 7, the pickles are drained and pickling spices are removed. Reserve the pickling vinegar to cover the pickles in the jar at the end of the process.
Transfer the pickles to a large non-reactive (no metal) mixing bowl stir in the sugar. The sugar and pickle mixture will sit undisturbed for 2 hours. During this time, the sugar will dissolve and there will be a little syrup in the bowl with the pickles.
Add the pickles with some of the syrup to the sterilized jars and cover them with vinegar solution. Cover with a sterilized seal and cap. Set the hot jars on a thick towel and cover with another towel to prevent drafts. As the pickles cool down, they will make a pop noise which means it has sealed. To test to see if the jar is sealed, touch the center of the seal. If it pops in and out, it is not sealed.
If your jar does not seal, you can either store it in the refrigerator or process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Some may feel safer processing them for 10 minutes in a hot water bath in a canner.
💭 TOP TIPS
- Make sure the cucumbers are not too large. A cucumber that is about 5 inches long are the perfect size. A thick cucumber is not a good choice.
- Be sure the cucumbers you use to make pickles are freshly picked and avoid using supermarket produce. Many times cucumbers bought in the supermarket have had a wax coating put on them.
- Remove the flower end of the cucumber. That part of the cucumber contains an enzyme that can cause your pickles to soften.
- There is no need to rinse the cucumbers daily. These are fermented pickles. Don't worry about the fermentation you see on them.
- Always use pickling salt for making pickles. Pickling Salt does not have the anti-caking ingredient table salt has in it. And, it has fine granules that make it break down and dissolve easier.
- I highly recommend using the alum to keep the pickle slices crispy. This is why they are called sweet crisp pickles.
- Do not discard the syrup that settles to the bottom of the pickles. I make sure to pack some into the jars when packing the pickles.
- If you prefer, add the syrup from the pickles to the vinegar solution and bring it all to a boil.
- For safety sake, do not skip the sterilization of jars. Boil the washed jars and sealing lids in hot water.
- If the jars do not seal once cooled, process in a hot water bath canner for 15 minutes.
- Any unsealed jars must be stored in the refrigerator.
*If you made this recipe, please give it a star rating*
Nanny's 7 Day Sweet Pickles
Ingredients
- 10 lbs small cucumbers
- ¼ cup salt
- 3 tbsp alum
- 6 cups apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup pickling spice
- 4 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Day 1: Clean cucumbers and soak in ice cold water bath for 30 minutes. Drain cucumbers, trim ends, then cut into thick chunks. Pack cucumbers in a gallon sized food safe jar. Cover with boiling water. Let sit 24 hours.
- Day 2: Drain water from cucumber slices. Add salt. Pour boiling water over top of cucumbers and salt. Cover and let sit 24 hours.
- Day 3: Drain cucumbers. Add alum. Pour boiling water over cucumbers to cover. Cover and let sit 24 hours
- Day 4: Drain cucumbers. Place pickling spice in cheesecloth tied with string to form purse. Place in jar with cucumbers. Bring cider vinegar to a boil. Pour over cucumbers.
- Day 5 and Day 6: Do nothing.
- Day 7: Drain cucumbers reserving juice. Remove cheesecloth with pickling spices and discard. Place cucumbers in large mixing bowl. Pour sugar over top of cucumbers and toss to coat. Let sit at least 2 hours.
- Heat reserved cucumber juice until scalding. Pack pickles into hot sterilized jars. Pour hot cucumber juice over top of pickles. Cover and seal.
Constance Smith | Cosmopolitan Cornbread
Homemade pickles are the best!
Liz
These look just like what my mom used to make! My favorite kind of pickles!!
Renee @ReneesKitchenAdventures
I adore sweet pickles. I know I'd love these!! I've never used alum when I make pickles. I'll have to try that.
Beckie Bergeron
I have never made sweet pickles before. I will have to give these a try!
Cindys Recipes and Writings
I could eat a jar of these!
Kim
Do you refrigerate these at all prior to them being placed in their jars for storage?
Shelby
No, I don't refrigerate them until after you have an unsealed jar (if you hot pack to seal as instructed). So, once the jar is sealed, you can store these on your shelf until it is ready to open. If a jar did not seal, then you should refrigerate the unsealed jar. I hope this answered your question!
kathy Pressley Dills
Have you ever added onions to these? Like bread and butter pickles?
Shelby Law Ruttan
I have not. I love bread and butter pickles, but these 7 Day pickles have a distinctly different flavor to me. I'm not sure I would like onions in these pickles.
Andrea
I’m currently making this recipe and I’m to the vinegar step. The vinegar doesn’t cover the pickles. Do you stir them frequently or add additional water to cover ?
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Andrea, You can add more vinegar to cover the pickles. Thanks! Shelby
Dana Stone
HELP
I didn't see where you hot packed for shelf storage. PLEASE tell me how cause I'm making these now (day1).
Thanks
Dana
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Dana, I updated this post so it was a little easier to understand. I added several tips as well. The instructions for hot packing is step 7 on the recipe card. Thanks! Shelby
Jennifer
I cannot stand the taste of vinegar, how long do these need to sit before the sugar over takes most of the vinegar flavor?
Shelby
Hi Jennifer, there will still be a vinegar bite to the pickle, but it is a sweet bite.
Caro thompkins
I have made nanny’s seven day pickles and it is timeto put in jars. How do I seal the jars for these pickles
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Carol, these are hot packed into jars then stored in the refrigerator. If you want to store them on a shelf, I would sterilize the jars and lids, and hot pack. As the jars cool, the lid should seal (you will hear a pop). No need to process them in a canner.
Wendyrhea
Thank you for this recipe. It is the same one my momma and nanny used. I always called them nanny pickles. Lol at thanksgiving my nanny would promise me whatever was left in the pickle bowl if I ate a spoon of her dressing. I hated dressing! But I swallowed it so I could have my pickles. The sweet thing is nanny would always fill the bowl back up to the top with pickles for me. They were my special dessert. So far I have made 3 gallon jars. Wonder how long they will last me. Haha!
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Wendy! Thank you for sharing this with me 🙂 It's heartwarming to hear someone else who had a Nanny as sweet as mine, and one who made the same pickles! I hope you enjoy them for a long time!! ˜Shelby
kay kendrick
I made these pickles, but had to adjust the vinegar when I got ready to can them. It was so much is tom my breath... Out more sugar in them. Also do I have to use alum?? Will they be crisps if I don't? It tends to make my stomach hurt... Thanks
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Kay, I don't quite understand all of your comment. It's ok to adjust the vinegar if you need to, but I would not add more sugar (if this is what you are asking?). Alum is used to help preserve the pickle and make it crisp. I have never made these without alum so I can't say how crisp they would be without it. I recommend trying calcium chloride in place of the alum if that works for you. Calcium Chloride reacts with the pectin in the cucumber and will aid in crispness as well. I haven't tried this myself, but research tells me that would be a good substitute. Best of luck! Shelby
Tandy Willingham
I made these last week. I didn't have enough cucumbers from my garden & it's just my hubby & me so I cut the recipe in half. These are really good! My husband is not fond of sweet pickles but he likes these because they are not real sweet snd very crisp. Had enough to share with friends too. Thanks.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Th Tandy, so glad you made them and enjoyed them!! Thanks for stopping by to let me know.
Adrienne
Love your site (the popups not so much) Making Nanny's 7 Day Sweets. Just put vinegar in last night Whem you sY hot pack, you simply mean heat the jars? Not the syrup or reserved vinegar? And the hot jars and lids are enough to seal them? Thanks 😊
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Adrienne, thanks. When it comes time to pack them this is what I did last night as I made them myself: syrup from the cukes (there should be some from the sugar dissolving), add it to the vinegar solution and bring it to a boil. I also added the spice packet to the vinegar. I washed the jars and put them in a pan of hot water and kept them at a low simmer after the water boiled. I added the sealing lid also. When the vinegar was hot, I removed a jar from the hot water, filled it with as many pickles as I could and then poured the boiling vinegar over top. Place a hot sealing lid on the jar rim (after wiping the rim clean) and secure the screw cap. Then set them on a towel on your counter and cover with another towel. They should seal by the time they are cold. If not, I would process in a canner for 10 minutes or store any unsealed in the fridge. I hope this helps. I know I need to update this post which is why I was making the recipe myself this week. Feel free to reach out if you need more assistance. ˜Shelby (ps you shouldn't be getting the pop ups anymore, I had them removed from the site, if you do, please send me a screenshot via email of what you see and I will get my tech team on it. Thanks!)
Debra Belisle
Receipt says to use salt, it that regular table salt or pickling salt?
I was told if use regular table salt it changes color of pickles.
Shelby Law Ruttan
This is a sweet pickle recipe so the salt is not a concern as it would be for dill pickles. I use regular salt in this recipe. However, you can use pickling salt if you wish.
Debra Belisle
Thank you, I did use the pickling salt and they came out great. This recipe is the closest to the pickles a lady used to make for me and they are my favorite. She passed away and I was not able to get her recipe. My husband said he couldn’t tell the difference. My cucumbers in garden are going crazy, so I am on my second batch. Very easy recipe to follow. Thank you much.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Thank you Debra! So happy that you and your husband enjoyed the recipe! Shelby