Alum is only used to give a 'pucker' to pickles, like the sour vinegar pickle. Pickling lime is what cukes get soaked in to help reduce the breakdown of cukes in an acidic brine. Alum and lime are NOT used for the same purpose or interchangable.
I would expect a recipe would call for cider vinegar and whole cinnamon sticks.

Huh? Alum and Lime are both used as firming agents. The method of use is different though.

Yes, alum is a firming agent, as is lime. However, alum only works to crisp fermented pickles, not quick process ones.

Sorry I can't help on the recipe.

Carol

Sorry, alum is NOT used as a firming agent and most might think, its main use is to increase the dry 'pucker' of sour vinegar brines. Its an aluminium based product and does NOT assist in preventing the cukes from softening in a vinegar brine. It is also what is in a styptic that will absorb blood in razor cuts of the face. Pickling lime is quite different in that its mixed with just water and used a presoak for cucumbers. The lime creates an alkali 'barrier' that vinegar can't easily penetrate through. The newer Ball Pickle Crisp, and calcium chloride are the same, and have taken the place of pickling lime in home pickling. Today, alum is rarely used in any kind of pickling process, and has never been meant to act as a true firming agent. Try it for yourself. Make a pint jar of all vinegar and salt brine pickles using alum in one jar and calcium chloride in the other. Wait a year and see which one will still be crisper. It would be the one with calcium chloride added, while the alum one would be just sour and puckery and much softer. MY experiment consisted of a half teaspooon of alum in a pint jar, and calcium chloride in the other pint jar. After 14 months of normal storage after they were processed, the alum one was mush and the CC one was much firmer.

Here is some additional info on Alum and the many varieties of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alum info

Ken, you are mistaken. This has been discussed on the forum many times.

The very site you linked to says, Alum powder, found in the spice section of many grocery stores, may be used in pickling recipes as a preservative to maintain fruit and vegetable crispness.

As alum in culinary form is an astringent, it removes water. Hence, increased crispness. That characteristic of alum is alluded to in many Extension documents on pickling.

It has largely been supplanted by other crisping agents, but properly used it does work to crisp pickles.

Carol

I would never use it in pickling as it isn't as effective and with the concern of an aluminium base, its still not a good thing to add. The link I pointed to just barely mentioned pickling, and also the word 'may', which usually means maybe sometimes. Yes, The subject has been discussed in the past with no real substaniated proof as to its being able to help pickled cukes remain crisp after a long storage. If you use it, so be it, but to make a pickled product with a derivitave of alumina, etc, I would rather boil my brines in aluminium pots and pans. Its primary uses are as an astringent, and the feeling of dryness.

Another site mentions the following:

Alum is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a food additive, but in large quantities  well, an ounce or more  it is toxic to humans. As a result, efforts have been made and are being made to wean us of our alum dependency. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that if good quality produce and modern canning methods are employed, there is no need to use alum to bolster the crispness of our pickles and cherries. In any event, the department says, even if alum is used to soak the pickles, it should not be used in the final pickling liquid.

Ken I have no idea where you came up with Alum being used simply as a "pucker", just as lime is to be rinsed off for quick pickles, alum, in turn is used later in the process, and again,the pickles are rinsed throughly. NOT added to the jar!
Perhaps you are confusing a quick pickle process over the fermented recipes.
Alum has been mentioned for centuries as a firming agent.

As far as your concern about the aluminium, you may want to check your baking pantry, as some baking powders use Sodium Aluminium Sulfate in their baking powder...Calumet comes to mind.

Your comments are rather oxymoron in regard to the safety of alum use, as you have stated you use nitrates for your meat curing.

All the info I read said that alum was not to be used in a final brine, but the people here seem to believe it is used in a final canning brine. Some of your comments are also unfounded and are not very helpful for people who may still think that alum (of any chemistry type) is safe to use in pickle brines, when it is not. Explain the difference of a quick process and a fermented pickle? I ferment with salt and water, and a quick process is done with salt water and vineger, or in my case, salt and vinegar only. Neither ever have alum added for any reason. Pickling lime is messy and needs to be carefully rinsed off of cukes once they sit in it for 24 hours in the fridge. Even after 6 rinses, it can still stick to skins of cukes. I used to see many pickle brines that called for alum for the FINAL prine and these are my concern as its not someting I would want to consume, even if the studies of aluminium and alzheimers are not 100% researched. Lime can stain stainless steel pots, imagine what it will do in our bodies. I still have a few canisters of Mrs. Wages pickling lime, and will be using it as a pH raising agent for my garden. My baking powder has no aluminium, and I even use a baking ammonia at times.

Maybe I am 10000000% wrong, but I don't think I am, and if you think your 10000000% right, I don't think you are, so be it.. Use it at your own peril.. 'Oxymoron' may be a word in the English language, but I feel its an insult to my intelligence when taken in the context above.

Take the Oxymoron comment as you wish, you do it so often I don't know why your insulted.

As far as using in the context above:

Mrs Wages, which you have said previously you use lists Alum as the 3rd or 4th in the ingredient.

Have you read the data linking pancreatic cancer and nitrates?
I'm glad the neighbors butcher shop uses no pink salt.

So now I do oxymoron often?? Well, if you look at your snide remark and think that you are the biggest know it all here, your mighty mistaken. I don't claim to be an expert on evrything, but all my years and my need to find out about everything I do, gives me the edge on others too timid to persue some areas they are not familiar with. Just and FYI , the OLDER Mrs. Wages products I have don't list alum of any kind in the mixes. None of mine here list alum anyway. It looks like your attempting to punch holes into everything I write, its either envy that you are into, or you simply don't like to go with the flow and take everything with a grain of salt, or is that alum, or is it nitrate, or nitrite. Even VEGETABLES have nitrites in them, if you didn't know!!

Any bacon you buy, salami, pepperoni, and even hams are all made with nitrates, not to mention any and all sausages and even hot dogs. Thats not the half of it either, as many cold cuts including corned beef, pastrami, and a lot more meats use it. The reason is simple, its used in very minute amounts to prevent food poisoning. Thats the main reason I do NOT like using the Morton Tender Quick salt curing mix. In beef eColi and other nasties in meats are very dangerous. I have never seen a ham that was not treated with some kind of a nitrate product and for you to make a statement that your neighbors butcher shop doesn't use it, is just like home canning with no heat processing taken place. They are risking the health of others. They only other way to prevent poison meats is to add a lot more salt. Also, I use a product called 'erythorbic acid' that prevents any bad side issues (cancers) if nitrites are used in meats. See link below.

The 'pink, is only colored salt to identify it as being more than just plain salt, and the salt is mixed with nitrites so that they can be measured more accurately. A 20 pound batch of meat uses just 10-15 grams of the 'Prage powder' to help it produce nitrogen that will kill bacteria like eColi and others. The nitrite is only about 2% of the salt mixed with the nitrite, so 20 grams of these standard mixed curing powders would have a very tiny amount of nitrites in the mg range. In the raw, a person could get sick if they ingested 20 grams or more of PURE nitrites, but if you ate 50 pounds of meat at one sitting, that was cured with it, you have no worry even for that.

If nitrites cause cancer, why isn't it banned? They should also ban cigarettes and alcohol. These are all things our bodies are not equipt to deal with.

I refuse to agrue with you any further as your comments are less than being even nice to me or anything I write about. If you dislike my writings, ignore me and I will do the same. By to belittle me and claim things like you wrote, are less than being friendly.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nitrites in meats

I don't eat cold cuts, hot dogs etc.. I know veggies have nitrates but I think the benefits of the vitamins outweighs that arguement.
Don't know how old the Mrs Wages stuff you have but the 2002 dated package I was given has alum listed.
I welcome the challenge for me not to make comments on your posts, as you will do the same.
Tried to take this outside, but your email link isn't working.

This recipe is an old pickle that my family has made for more than 40 years. This is absolutely the most crisp pickle I have ever eaten. It is so very crisp that it is brittle and will break almost like glass. It will be that way three years later if stored properly. It does not have to be processed, but will keep VERY well in a gallon jar on a cool pantry shelf.

As you can see, the crisping agent is alum. Alum, properly used, is a VERY effective crisping agent.

Tarragon Pickles

1. Wash cucumbers and set in brine to cover for 10 days. (Brine: 1 pint salt to 1 gallon water.)

2. Remove from brine and soak in clear water for 3 days.

3. Remove from water and slice thin. (May cut into spears if you desire.) Soak in alum water for 2 days. (Alum water: 2 heaping tablespoons alum to 1 gallon hot water.)

4. Remove from alum water and soak in hot dark vinegar for 2 days.

5. Drain well on paper towels. Place alternate layers of cucumbers, onion, pickling spices, and sugar. Pour 1/2 cup tarragon vinegar over all.

6. Refrigerate

7. Note: 10 pounds sugar makes about 3 gallons. 1 box spices is more than enough for 2 gallons. These pickles do not have to be sealed and processed.

Pickle Crisp, is much more preferred to Alum. Pickle Crisp was introduced by Ball a few years back and has been used in the commerical pickle industry for many years, as well as in canning whole tomatoes. Today, PC has been replaced by the true name of- Calcium Chloride, sold by Bulk Foods. 1/2 teaspoon per pint or 1 teaspooon for quart will help slow the effects of vinegar.