Looks fine to me since it is 100% vinegar. I wouldn't use the mace but that is optional.

Dave

I agree with Dave. No problem as long as the lime is thoroughly rinsed.

It's an interesting combination of spices.

Carol

Wow. That is A Lot of sugar.

It looks just fine to me too. Sweet pickles have an inordinate amount of sugar anyway. The sweet pickle chunks I canned tonight using Linda Lou's recipe, have 8 cups of sugar per quart of vinegar, so just a little less than this recipe.

It is an interesting mixture of spices, not something I've seen before, but they do sound good.

Annie

That's an old recipe. The high amount of sugar "candies" the cucumbers.

It's possible the vinegar used originally was 10% or 15% instead of 5%, which also helps account for the sugar level. That's true of many old relishes and pickles. The sugar mellows the extreme acidity (and contributes to the safety and keeping qualities of a pickle that probably wasn't water bathed).

Carol

Thank you all so much! Your answers made my day, I didn't want to throw out my pickles.

You should try the recipe, they really are very good!

So sounds interesting, but could I half the amount of sugar? No safety issues, correct?

No safety issues as long as the cucumbers are well covered by the syrup and not packed too tightly (so there's plenty of syrup around the cucumber slices).

It will just be a different pickle.

Carol