One of the varieties I was growing had that problem a few weeks ago. I took them to the horticulturist who runs my local nursery. To paraphrase, he said: "Some people say it's too much water, some people say not enough, some people say it's too much fertilizer, some people say not enough. The basic truth is, it's an unexplained physiological problem and we don't know what causes it."

He said he thinks it's poor pollination, especially if it's a seedless variety. If it's seedless and it doesn't get pollinated properly, he said, there's not going to be anything in the seed cavity.

He suggested waiting it out until our day/nighttime temperatures normalized and not doing anything differently in regard to water or fertilizer.

And he was right. The cukes corrected themselves in about 10 days, once we had more normal summer weather (i.e., no more cool snaps).

Meanwhile yes, they can be used for relishes with no problems. And if you like any of the refrigerator marinated cucumber salads like the one that uses sliced onions, oil, vinegar, sugar, and fresh ground pepper they work well for them too.

Dave

Thank you both for the quick responses.

Mudster - I bought these cukes at a Farmer's Market - my vines dried up and baked.

Digdirt - so should I stop the recipe and just make the relish or continue and just chop the cukes up in small cubes and can once the 7 days are up? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I've never made anything but the pickles before.

Thanks again to both of you.

Rebel215, i just finished my first batch of linda lou's sweet pickle chunks about a week ago. The cucumbers i used were hollow and i didnt realize this. I used oriental express. So, they got a little softer as i finished the recipe. I didnt process them because i was worried they would get softer. I put pickle crisp granules in them and in the fridge they went. They are very crisp and yummy. Dont stop the recipe if you dont mind great refridgerator pickles. Im not sure how fast you will need to eat them.

If you don't want to fridge them as suggested and since you are using Linda Lou's recipe - which is delicious - I'd finish the recipe and then grind them into relish a jar ata time as you open them. But either way works and it is really up to you and how much time and effort you want to put into them.

Next time you buy cukes for pickling you need to ask the vendor if they were harvested with the past 12-24 hours and ask to see one sliced open. Reputable vendors will not object.

Dave

And the Hollowness (is that a word??) is really only aesthetic. They're still edible, just not pretty.

Deanna

I don't see any problem with cubing and canning the sweet pickle recipe as long as you don't over-pack the jars. Make sure the cubes have plenty of syrup, even if you need to make additional.

Of course, as Dave mentioned, relish is fine too. Again, if you wish to can, make sure the mixture isn't overly dense. You can always pour off excess syrup at time of service.

Carol

I believe I'll finish them and can the chunks to chop later. I'm basically a lazy canner.

Thank you all for the suggestions and advice. You guys are great!

Also, for future reference, hollow cukes float. If your farmers' market vendor is reluctant to cut one open (and by all means, they shouldn't be reluctant to do that), there's always the float test.