How to Make Cinnamon Pickles

Most people have eaten dill pickles, bread & butter pickles or sweet pickles but have you ever tried cinnamon pickles? These beautiful pickles are a mix of crunchy sweetness, cinnamon spice and just a hint of vinegar. The combination is unusual and the taste just plain amazing! If you have cucumbers and a desire to try something unique, then these cinnamon pickles are just for you!

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How to Make Cinnamon Pickles

This recipe is not hard but it does take longer than typical dill pickles. The first day is the most work time while you cut and prepare your cucumbers. After that, day 2, 3, and 4 just take about 30 minutes each. By Day 5, you are ready to finish them up and do your canning.

I’m here to tell you, these cinnamon pickles are worth it! I’m even hoping to have enough cucumbers so I can make another batch and use small pint and half pint jars so I can gift these at Christmas time. Won’t they be pretty with a festive ribbon?

Ingredients:

• Cucumbers
• Pickling Lime
• Sugar
• Red Food Coloring
• Hot Cinnamon Candies
• Canning Jars
• Water Bath Canner
• Large Plastic bowl

Directions:

I use a family recipe that has been handed down but this recipe from Taste of Southern is easy to follow and gave great results!

Day 1 – Prepare your Cucumbers

This is the most labor intensive part so enlist some help. You will need to peel each cucumber and then scoop out the inside seeds from each one. You can slice them into spears or rings but I prefer the way the rings look in the jars. I cut them about 1/2″ thick after scooping out the inside seeds.

Soak them in a large plastic tub overnight with 1 cup of pickling lime. If you can find this in a local hardware store it will probably be cheaper but if you don’t have any, then you can still find it on Amazon. Cover the cucumbers with plastic wax paper and let them soak all night.

Day 2

• Drain and rinse cucumber rings. Discard lime mixture. Soak cucumber rings in ice water 3- 4 hours.
• Drain cucumber rings. Rinse and soak an additional 3-4 hours.
• Drain cucumber rings. Combine cucumber rings, vinegar, 1/2 bottle of red food coloring, 1 tsp alum; add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 2 hours.
• While this is simmering, create syrup and bring to a boil
  • 10 Cups Sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups cider vinegar, 5% acidity
  • 3 1/2 cups water
  • 1-2 bags of hard cinnamon candy (approximately 8-12 ounces, more if you want a stronger cinnamon taste)
• Drain Cucumbers; Pour syrup over drained cucumbers. Let sit overnight.

If you feel tempted to sneak a cinnamon pickle at any point in this process, I won’t judge!

Day 3

Drain syrup but KEEP it! Boil syrup for 1 minute and then pour back over the cucumbers. Do not boil the cucumbers with the syrup.

Day 4

Drain syrup but KEEP it! Boil syrup for 1 minute and then pour back over the cucumbers. Do not boil the cucumbers with the syrup.

Day 5

• Drain syrup but KEEP it! Boil syrup while you are preparing your canning jars.
• Prepare canning jars according to manufacturers instructions.
• Pack cucumber rings into jars.
• Pour hot syrup over cucumbers and process in a water bath canner for approximately 10 minutes.
• Check for seal after jars have cooled.

Store and enjoy! What size jars are best for cinnamon pickles? Typically we can them in quart size jars, but you might want to make several small jars so you can share with friends! I guarantee you will have people who want to try these out!

Have you ever made cinnamon pickles? Do you prefer them chilled in the refrigerator before you eat them or room temperature?

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Looking for other pickle recipes? Check out this list of 30+ pickle ideas to help preserve and enjoy your summer harvest!