My mother used lime in her pickles. She'd stopped making pickles by
the time I was old enough to be useful, so the only way I know this is
from a story she told about the first pickle season after she got
married. She went to -- I think it was a hardware store -- and asked
for a quarter's worth of lime. The clerk said "lady, you couldn't
*lift* a quarter's worth of lime," and gave her enough to make
pickles.
For reference, more than twenty years after that incident, fountain
drinks, candy bars, and ice-cream cones were five cents each. And if
I had a whole dime, I could have a funny book.
Pickle Crisp ads suggest strongly that liming was a prolonged and
laborious procedure.
When I make bread-and-butter pickles I put a pinch in the bottom of
each jar and they come out crisp. But I haven't tried it without the
calcium chloride. They also came out crisp when Mom made them, and
her recipe doesn't say a word about lime. But one does have to be
very careful not to let the vegetables boil. Also helps if the
cucumbers were picked soon enough and haven't developed seeds.
--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/