Anyone use calcium chloride in their pickle recipe?  it helps keep the pickles firm.

I used BozemanMT's recipe last year and it kicks ass!!!  however, this year i am going to use way less dill and more peppers.  after a while though, the pickles weren't as crisp.  they weren't limp or anything, but they lacked the big snap, like they had in the beginning.  i was thinking on using some calclium chloride to see hot it worked.

you used to be able to buy "pickle crisp" but it looks like its discontinued, so you have to use food grade cc, which is what pickle crisp was.

thanks
Craig

WE have always used a fresh grape leaf. I was told it did pretty much the same thing. I think the freshness of the cucs has more to do with the crispness than anything. The last batch of sun pickles we made were good but were "soft".

Yup, calcium chloride is great stuff!  It complexes with the pectin in the cell walls of fruits and vegetables to prevent them from breaking down from the action of heat and water.  It is also used in cheesemaking to get a slightly greater cheese yield out of the milk.  ...and, it is one of the compounds used in concrete to hasten setting and curing!