Red Hot Cinnamon Pickles
aka: “Christmas Pickles” Recipe by Shirley Olson & Terri Olson-Cleveland - These pickles take 3 days to make, but are well worth the wait! We used to eat them like candy when we were kids. They make wonderful Christmas gifts.
Servings: 8 pints
Ingredients
- 8 lbs. cucumbers peeled, seeded & sliced
LIME SOLUTION:
- 1 c. pickling lime
- 4 c. water plus more to cover the cucumbers
SIMMERING LIQUID:
- 1 T. red food coloring
- 1 c. white vinegar
- 4 c. water plus more to cover the cucumbers
RED HOT CINNAMON SYRUP:
- 2 c. white vinegar
- 2 c. water
- 10 c. granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 12 oz. Red Hots cinnamon candies
- 8 whole cinnamon sticks
Instructions
- DAY ONE: In the morning, peel the cucumbers and slice in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, gently scoop out the seeds and discard. Cut cucumbers into 1/4-inch half moon slices.
- LIME SOLUTION: In a very large non- reactive bowl or container, (I like to use a 5-gallon food-grade plastic bucket with lid) mix the pickling lime with 4 cups of water. Add the cucumber slices; then add more water to cover them. Let stand for 24 hours. It's not necessary to refrigerate or stir the cucumbers during this process.
- DAY TWO: Drain and rinse the cucumbers thoroughly to remove as much of the lime solution as possible. Return the cucumber slices to the clean bowl or bucket. Cover the cucumbers with ice water. Let stand for 3 hours.
- Drain the cucumbers and rinse well again. All of the lime should be removed from the cucumbers.
- SIMMERING LIQUID: In a large 8 quart non-reactive pot, mix 1 tablespoon red food coloring, 1 cup white vinegar, and 4 cups of water. Add the cucumber slices and add more water to cover them. Bring the water to a simmer (not a boil) and simmer for 2 hours. Watch carefully to make sure the water does not evaporate so much that you risk burning the cucumbers. Add more water as needed.
- RED HOT CINNAMON SYRUP: Meanwhile, one hour before the cucumber finish simmering, make the Red Hot Cinnamon Syrup in a 5 quart non-reactive pot by mixing 2 cups white vinegar, 2 cups water, 10 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and the Red Hot cinnamon candies. Heat to a simmer and stir occasionally until the candies are dissolved, about 1 hour.
- Drain the cucumber simmering liquid and return the cucumbers to the pot. Pour the Red Hot Cinnamon syrup over them, and let them stand overnight.
- DAY THREE: The following morning, bring the cucumbers and syrup to a simmer. The pickles will be a beautiful red color and have a translucent quality to them, characteristic of pickles made with pickling lime.
- Pack the pickles into sterilized canning jars, cover with syrup leaving 1/4 inch of head space in each jar. Add a stick of cinnamon to each jar. Wipe the rims clean with a damp rag. Cover with sterilized lids and screw on bands finger-tip tight. Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
- Pickles are best served cold.
Notes
Note: This recipe has been updated and does not call for alum.
These are in demand every time I make them. Our cucumbers were destroyed by two hails but we went to Arkansas Valley farming community…actually the little town where my parents lived during war where my father worked as a welder at Pueblo Air Base and bought our cucumbers. They are a little work but so worth when I hand my 76 year old brother in law a jar. He’s a rancher and his mother passed on the recipe….he gives me his wonderful charming smile. Bless our hardworking farmers and ranchers! Making these this week did stir up lots of memories!
Bless your heart, Thanks for sharing your story. Do you make them in both red & green?
Used your recipe added 2 cans beet juice and monk’s fruit and apple juice, for sweetness and color. Diabetics with cancer in my family even the youngest of grandkids can eat these. Christmas gifts in July they will love it! Thanks for posting most like my dad’s recipe I could find, Veteran of Korean war.
Hi Joan, you’re so welcome, I will tell my friend Terri, it’s her mom’s recipe. She has fond memories of making these with her mom when she was a child.
I grew up eating these. My grandmother always made them, then mother and aunt. They always went to the fabric store and picked out a wonderfully bright Christmas inspired design to cut a square for decorating top of jar. Homemade things are the best gifts.
We accidently added the ALUM into the first 24 hour soaking with pickling lime!
Our cukes turned yellow instead of translucent…Are they ruined or can we still use them just continuing the recipe. Do we need to refrigerate them during any of the processing time up until we put them and the syrup into the jars on the final step?
Hi Dot, Alum is used to crisp the pickles, so I don’t think it will matter. No refrigeration is needed. I hope this helps. ~ Dusty
Does the lime solution have to be cool before adding the cucumbers?
Hi Roger, The lime solutions is 1 cup lime to 1 gallon water. No heating necessary. ~ Dusty
How many pints does this recipe make?
Hi Julie, I just checked the hand written recipe, it says 8 pints.
Thanks! Just missed your reply! I may not have packed my jars as tight.
Well, I answered my own question.. lol.. I got 10 pints. Taste great! Awesome recipe! Nice and crisp!
What do you do with cinnamon sticks ?
Hi Michelle, You use them in the second boil. You can also stick them in the jars before processing. ~ Dusty
Can you use zucchini instead of cucumbers?
Hi Robin, I haven’t used zucchini, but I bet you could, just be sure to remove the seeds! Let me know how it turns out. ~ Dusty
I prefer making them with zucchoni. I use the big ones that I missed when picking them! I had always made relish out of the big ones. One year my cucumbers didn’t make much so I tried zucchini, we like them much better and it’s another use for the giants!
I do use alum when making these. Makes them really crisp.
Hi Diana, That’s my mom’s name too! Wow, I never thought to use zucchini, what a great idea and a great use for the larger zukes! Thanks for sharing! ~ Dusty
i use watermelon rind ( the white of the rind only) my family likes this better than the cucumber.
I’m trying to make some crisp apple slices instead of cucumbers using the pickling lime. Just for the heck of it. Crisp cooking apples in season right now too so figure if it doesn’t work, I haven’t lost much. I looked up recipes for spicy apple slices which also used red or green food coloring, but apparently that recipe for apple slices only keeps in the refrigerator for ONE WEEK….I meant them to last longer than that so i’m trying the cucumber recipe. Will find out if the pickling lime will work on the apple slices too. Anyway, have my pickling cucumbers sitting in lime for 24 hours. And have a separate big bowl soaking my apples in pickling lime too. My kids grew up eating cinnamon red hot cucumber pickles and they have put in their special request for me to show them how to make them. .will soak all in the alum/vinegar/red food color solutions for 3 hours tomorrow then can it all….apples and cukes separately, of course.
Wow, let me know how this turns out! I’ve never thought of using apples…
I was wondering if you have any suggestions on how to use the syrup after you empty a jar. Its such a waste to throw it out
My friend and I boiled it down and made Cinnamon syrup.
I hope someone can help. My grandma always had two pint jars on her table, one green one red. They contained thin sticks, I think cucumbers. What were these?
Hi Janet, It might be cumcumbers, if so you have the right recipe! 🙂
My Mother-in-law made red cinnamon and green were clove. I loved both!
I love to put it in my cottage cheese it adds flavor to it. It keeps forever in the refrigerator. My Papaw used to make them and they are my favorite pickle.
Used recipe last year only put pickles in the food processor. Made it relish. Sure great on hot dogs and other sandwiches.
I misread and added the sugar, redhots, and cinnamon with the alum mixture.
Can I still can them or is the batch no good?
I’m sorry Lara, Do NOT can them, you’re suppose to throw out the alum mixture, you’re going to have to start over.
What can I eat with the cinnamon pickles? Or what can I mix with the cinnamon pickles? Dessert? Any thing is helpful.
Hi Michelle, These sweet and crunchy pickles are great right out of the jar! Serve them alongside sandwich, as an appetizer, on a charcuterie platter, over vanilla ice cream or give away as gifts during the holidays. Hope that helps?
So happy to find this recipe. My grandmother would make them every holiday – only she would make a batch with red, and a batch with green. And I would absolutely inhale them!
I had the recipe but lost it years ago in a flood, and didn’t get the chance to ask her for it again before she passed last year.
I can’t wait to make them for my new friends here in Pennsylvania. (Midwestern transplant)
I really like your website. I’m using your cinnamon pickles. I’m gonna TRY some asparagus…..
The cuke pickles look great
Will let u know how asparagus does!!!!!!
I have a friend who does the cinnamon pickles from an old family recipe, but she will not share. She does not use the red hots. Hers are not red. do you know of any other recipe for these. she also does not use the cinnamon sticks.
Hi Tammy, Possibly candy pickles or lime pickles? I have a recipe for watermelon pickles, but I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for. I hope this helps! ~ Dusty
WOULD WATERMELON RIND WORK. I LOVE THESE PICKLES.THANKYOU FOR POSING THE RECIPE.
Hi Cindy, I suppose you could, but I have never tried this recipe with watermelon rind. Here’s a link to my recipe for Watermelon Rind Pickles: https://www.cookingmamas.com/watermelon-rind-pickles/
Can you use pickling salt instead of lime
Hi Connie, No, Pickling lime is calcium hydroxide. Pickling salt is sodium chloride without additives. You could use Ball Pickling Crisp instead of lime. Hope this helps?
Hello! What would be the changes to use pickling crisp instead? Would they still soak over night? My first batch was by the book except my mom bought me salt instead of lime and my pickles were limp and soggy and I can’t find lime anywhere but found pickle crisp but can’t find out how to use it.
Hi Laura, I have never used Pickling Crisp, but here’s an article that might explain it. I hope this helps. http://americanpreppersnetwork.com/pickling-crisp-vs-pickling-lime/
Hi! I’m excited to try this recipe. I’ll be starting the process this morning and i have just enough pickling cucumbers to make 2 batches. My question is, can this recipe be doubled, or will I need to make 2 separate batches at the same time?
Hi Kit, I would do two separate batches! 🙂
Just finished day 2. My syrup had a thin layer on top that was milky white. Not sure if it’s lime or alum. I swear I rinsed the lime reside forever. Anyone else have this issue? Will it go away in day 3/4?
Hi Vickie, Wondering if you used both lime and alum? The recipe calls for lime, not alum. Let me know…
Yes, I looked at several recipes and most called for soaking in lime and then adding alum to the boiling liquid on day 2. I did the lime soak and rinsed and rinsed. Then I added Alum to the vinegar and water when I simmered it for 2 hours. It said to drain that mixture off, but didn’t say to rinse it afterward, so I didn’t.
I wonder if I rinse them tonight and make the syrup over if I can get rid of it.
I have been making these for years, everybody loves them. My question is why remove the seeds? I remove them for these pickles but not for any of my others. Thank you
Hi Jennifer, Good question! There’s really no reason you couldn’t leave the seeds. I personally think they’re prettier without! 🙂
Just wanted to say thank you for this recipe. It is as close to my grandmothers and great aunts as I have found, and I have used it a couple of years in a row. This year I wanted to try my own spin on them and did some Cinnamon mango pickles using the same recipe. They are amazing! Like pickled peaches times 10! Thanks again for the very detailed instructions. I’m passing it down )
Sincerely , Dara
You’re welcome Dara, so glad we could help! Love your spin on the recipe, sounds AMAZING!
Please help.. when you’re soaking the Cucumbers overnight in the syrup with the Red Hots and the sugar it says to process them the next morning I’m not able to do that until later in the afternoon will they still be okay sitting on the counter?
Hi Nancy, No worries, they should be fine 🙂
I cannot find the lime and bought the pickling crisp granules. Does work the same and how much do you use?
Hi Judy, I’ve never used that before. You might want to google it first. (I found this article that might help you – http://americanpreppersnetwork.com/pickling-crisp-vs-pickling-lime/) I know Walmart carries the pickling lime. I ended up buying mine on Amazon. I hope this helps?
How do you make them green? Do you still use the red hot syrup? Doesn’t that make them red?
Hi Carol, This recipe is for “Red” Hot Cinnamon Pickles. There is a recipe for “Green” Spicy Christmas Pickles using Tabasco sauce. You’ll have to Google it.
can you use whole crabapples with stems in place of cucumbers? is it necessary to water bath after packing in jars?
Hi Wayne, The recipe calls for cucumbers, I would not use crab apples, and yes, a water bath is necessary for sealing and preserving the pickles.
Hello, I rinsed the cucumbers off after soaking in lime water overnight..i rinsed and rinsed and filled bowl with cold water to soak for 4 hours, fell asleep and woke up 9 hours later, can i still use my hard work cucumber and move on to the next step..Thank you..
Hi Rachel, Yes, of course!
Thank you for your detailed instructions! I made a perfect batch of translucent crisp cinnamon pickles last year, (using another recipe, almost like yours) and encouraged by how great they were, I bought enough cukes to make a double batch the next week. I followed the exact same directions, making a double batch, and they were pasty, brown, and soft after five days. I had to throw everything out. This year, I decided to try again, thinking that maybe I had just done something wrong last summer, by doubling the recipe. This week, I used two buckets, and made a single batch in each. I’ve rinsed and soaked 3 times, like my recipe called for, and then boiled them in water for 2 hours. Before the boil, the pickles weren’t translucent, like last year’s first good batch were, but they were crisp. After the boil, most of them were brown and mushy…. I’m so sad! I went looking for another recipe online, and found yours. You say to put the alum in the boil. The other one says to put it in the lime soak. I’m wondering if the alum blocked the lime from doing its work in the 24 hour soak? That doesn’t really make sense to me, because following the same recipe last year yielded me a perfect batch, followed by two mushy ones, with the same recipe. I’m going to try to find some more cukes, and try your version. I sure hope that it works! I used huge green cukes this week, that I bought from a greenhouse – they weren’t yellow, and they were firm and crisp, until the boil stage. Do you have any advice that might help me replicate the perfect batch I made last year, instead of throwing out another batch of sorry, soggy spears again? Thank you! Robin, from Alaska
I have to amend my first note to you! In re-reading your directions just now, I realized that you didn’t even mention using alum. Thank you for any advice you can give me.
Hi Robin,
I’m so sorry to hear you had to throw them out, that’s a lot of work! The only thing I can think of is the size and quality of the cucumbers, but it sounds like that wasn’t the problem.
Lime is used in older pickle recipes to add crispness.
If you use good-quality ingredients, alum is not needed. Alum is used to firm fermented cucumbers but does not improve the firmness of the pickles. I took the alum out of my recipe and they turned out beautifully.
Do you still have the recipe you used the first time? Maybe you can contact them to see what they recommend.
I hope this answers some of your questions. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. ~ Dusty
can this recipe be used for watermelon rinds, and if so will it take three days. I had a recipe for red hot water melon rind but lost it. I didn’t have to do all those steps though. Thank you
Hi Bernadine, I actually have a recipe for Watermelon Rind Pickles https://www.cookingmamas.com/watermelon-rind-pickles/
How long would I process 1/2 pints?
Process them in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude.
On day 1. On day 2,when you cover with red hot solution, it seems there is not going to be enough liquid. Do I add water?
Hi Nancy, Add more water just to cover them, watch carefully when simmering, add water as needed.
I didn’t have red food coloring to put in when I did the alum, vinegar mix. I have it now. I am in day three of a five day process. Can I add it to the syrup solution now or is it too late? The cucumbers are going to be a washed out color.
Hi Bernice, You will get some color from the red hot candies, just not as intense. You could add a teaspoon of red food coloring to intensify the color, but I would not add the entire tablespoon, it will change the taste of the pickles.
Me and my mom make these a lot, and one time her batch turned out soggy instead of crunchy. Reckon why this happened? I just wondered if u have encountered it before.
Also- I’ve heard recipes say “you need yellow cucumbers” and others say “it doesn’t matter”.. your thoughts?
Hi Tina,
The only thing I can think of is that they may have been overripe causing them to be soft.
I use pickling cucumber from my garden. I’ve never used yellow cucumbers, so I can’t really comment on that, sorry.