Spicy Spicy - Bread and Butter Pickles and Homegrown Hot Pepper Blend

Act I - Big Cucumber Garden Fail or: Mary is My Hero!
Act II - Chill, Simmer, Fill, GO!
Act III - Hot stuff - Grinding Some Business
Growing, building and cooking in New England, zone 6b
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Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles (makes 8-9 pints)
*this is a single batch - I made a double batch in the video*
1. Prepare your cucumbers:
5# pickling cucumbers cut into ¼” rounds
2 large red onions cut into wedges and then cut in half
1/2c pickling or salt
Ice cubes
Combine all of this in a large container and rest for at least 3 hours, but no more than 5 hours. Rinse and pick out ice cubes.
2. Make the brine:
5c apple cider vinegar
5c white sugar
1tsp mustard seed
1tsp celery seed
1 ½ tsp turmeric
4 whole cloves
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2-3 cloves of garlic, rough chopped
Mix it all up over medium heat, making sure the sugar dissolves completely; simmer for 5 minutes
3. Assembly:
3-5 whole garlic cloves
2 Dried hot peppers
3-4 Black peppercorns
*¼ tsp Ball Pickle Crisp per pint
Pre-pack jars with garlic and other spices. Pack tightly with cucumbers and onions, add Pickle Crisp if using. Pour hot brine over cucumbers, debubble and adjust brine to leave ½” headroom. Wipe rims with white vinegar. Lid and band to finger tight, and process for 15 minutes. Pickles are ready to eat in ~3 weeks.
*optional ~.o