Lime pickles, what did I do wrong?

[KDbeads]

Followed this recipe:

* 7 1/2 pounds Cucumber
* 2 cups pickling lime
* 2 gallons cold water
* 2 quarts Vinegar
* 4 1/2 pounds Sugar
* 1 tablespoon Pickling Salt
* 1 tablespoon Pickling spice


Dissolve lime in water. Pour over cucumbers and let sit 24 hours.
Drain, rinse let soak in fresh water for an hour and repeat 2 more times for a total of 3 hours.
Mix together vinegar, sugar, salt and spice, bring to boil and let cool.
Pour over cucumbers and let sit overnight
Boil in vinegar mix 35 minutes and then pack into hot sterilized jars


But........ Here's the kicker. My cucumbers were nice and full when the boiling started. By the end of that boiling they were shriveled to HALF their original size. Made half of what I was expecting to make. I don't remember them being this way when my grandmother made them.
Did I do something wrong? These are her directions. Mom can't figure it out either. Did grandma leave something out?

 

[TerriLaChicks]

I do mine similar to yours -- it's the Mrs. Wages recipe off of the back of the Mrs. Wages pickling lime pkg:

Old South Cucumber Lime Pickles
7 lbs. cucumbers (Slice crosswise)
1 cup MRS. WAGES Pickling Lime
2 gallons water
8 cups distilled white vinegar, 5% acidity
8 cups sugar
1 tablespoon salt (optional)
2 teaspoons MRS. WAGES Mixed Pickling Spices

Soak clean cucumbers in water and lime mixture in crockery or enamel ware for 2 hours or overnight. Do not use aluminum ware.
Remove sliced cucumbers from lime water. Discard lime water. Rinse 3 times in fresh cold water. Soak 3 hours in fresh ice water.
Combine vinegar, sugar, salt and mixed pickling spices in a large pot. Bring to a low boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove syrup from heat and add sliced cucumbers. Soak 5-6 hours or overnight.
Boil slices in the syrup 35 minutes. Fill sterilized jars with hot slices. Pour hot syrup over the slices, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Cap each jar when filled.
Process pints 10 minutes, quarts 15 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.
Test jars for airtight seals according to manufacturer’s instructions. Refrigerate unsealed jars.


When I do the 35 minute cooking thing, they do shrink up some, but they aren't what I would call shriveled -- did you do whole cukes or sliced cukes? I would think whole ones would shrivel, but I've always done mine sliced so I don't know for sure. Hopefully someone else who knows can answer your question.

 

[KDbeads]

Hmmmm, I'm wonder if that's it, I didn't slice mine. But I don't remember my grandmother's lime pickles being sliced either. Then again she made sooooo many types of pickles.....

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

I have never made those lime pickles but I do do a brined garlic dill that used whole pickles. The recipe says to trim the top and bottom of the cucumbers and put a slit in the sides to prevent shrinkage Maybe that would help in your recipe.