Company-Style Sweet Pickles - cooking recipe

Ingredients

7 lb. cucumbers
2 c. lime
2 gal. water
2 qt. vinegar
9 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
1 c. white raisins
1 Tbsp. celery seed
1 Tbsp. mixed pickling spices
1 Tbsp. whole cloves

Preparation

Wash cucumbers, remove seeds and slice lengthwise.
Soak for 24 hours in lime water (2 cups fresh lime to 2 gallons water). Remove and rinse well through several changes of cold water to remove lime sediment.
Cover pickles with ice water and let stand 3 hours.
Drain well.
Dissolve sugar and salt in vinegar; add spice bag and bring to a boil.
Pour hot syrup over pickles and let set overnight.