These pickles are known far and wide as some of the best sweet pickles ever tasted.  They won first place in the Minnesota State Fair sometime in the ’70s by Grandma Mulbey, and we use them today as a garnish, in homemade tartar sauce for our fish fries and as a base ingredient in other sauces and dressings…not to mention, eating them right out of the jar!

Ingredients:

4 quarts small pickling cucumbers, thinly sliced
2 red bell peppers
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3c canning salt
5c granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp tumeric spice
1 1/2 tsp celery seeds
2 Tbs mustard seeds
3c white vinegar
Preparation:

Combine cucumbers, red pepper and garlic.  Cover with ice and canning salt.  Let stand for 5 hours, or even overnight.  Drain throughly.  Combine and add remaining ingredients.  Heat to a boil.  Seal in hot sterilized jars, cover and turn upsidedown for 5 minutes.

Yields 8 pints. (But according to Jim, you’ll need more to get through a long Alaska winter.)