Dr. Wirtz Pickles

2 gallons small pickles (split to within about 1/2 inch of the end, for a 3-inch pickle)
1 gallon hot water
1 pint of pickling salt

Clean the cucumbers thoroughly, nipping off the stem end and slitting them. Mix the salt and water, pour over the pickles and let this stand for 1
week. (I use a crock and just keep the pickles from floating with an upside-down dinner plate that fits inside the crock.)

After one week, drain the brine, pour fresh boiling water over them, and let them stand another 24 hours.

Drain the brine and pour over them 1 gallon of hot water in which 1 teaspoon. alum has been dissolved. Let stand another 24 hours.

Drain the brine and make a syrup of 4 quarts of sugar (16 cups), 2 1/2 quarts of vinegar (10 cups), 1 small pack of cinnamon sticks (use your own
judgment here . I plan on one stick per half-pint jar)

Heat this brine to boiling and pour over the pickles. Let stand 24 hours.

Drain the brine, heat to boiling and pour over the pickles. Let stand 24 hours.

Drain the brine again, heat to boiling and pour over the pickles. Let stand 24 hours.

Drain the brine again, heat to boiling and pour over the pickles. Let stand 24 hours.

Drain the brine again, heat to boiling and pour over the pickles. Let stand 24 hours.

Drain the brine, and heat the liquid to boiling. Pack pickles (with cinnamon sticks) into hot, sterilized pint or pint-and-a-half jars. When the syrup
has boiled vigorously for a few minutes, pour it into the jars, leaving 1/8 inch headspace. Put the lids on, and wait for them to "pop" seal.

Note: The syrup is very, very sticky - make sure you clean the outsides of the jars or wipe them off under hot water and get all the stickies off,
before and after they are sealed.

This is my recipe for "cinnamon cucumber pickles." I don't know if this is what the requester wanted or not, but these are GREAT.

(Dr. Wirtz was a dentist in Wellman, Iowa, and gave this recipe to my grandma.)

These are a sweet/tart pickle. We don't cut them into chunks; we use the "finger-size" or slightly larger (3 - 5 inch long) cucumbers and slit them
lengthwise ALMOST to the end (leave about 1/2 - 3/4 inches uncut), so they're mostly split but look whole. They are a great, dark-green translucent
color.

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