Bread and Butter Pickles

Boxes filled with cucumbers from the farmers market, scores of mason jars, big pots, lots of activity in the kitchen, fresh homemade pickles. These are some of my memories from summers growing up.

My grandmother (dad’s mother) and my parents used to pickle a lot when I was a kid. My dad’s favorite was spicy carrot and cauliflower pickles (I’m still waiting for the recipe); my favorite was sweet watermelon rind pickles (can’t find watermelons with thick enough rinds to make these anymore).

Sweet pickles like these bread and butter pickles (who came up with that name?) never lasted that long around here; we kids gobbled them up.

Bread and butter pickles are easy to make, and if you are planning to make them as refrigerator pickles (storing them in the cold fridge, to be eaten within weeks), you can skip a lot of the canning steps.

This is a basic recipe which we happen to love, cobbled together from various editions of the Joy of Cooking plus some online research.

The ice helps keep the cucumbers crispy, as does cooking them just a short time. You can experiment with the pickling spices, and the pickling vegetables for that matter. We have a jalapeño bread and butter pickle recipe for people who love their pickles spicy.

Do you have a favorite bread and butter pickle recipe? If so, please tell us about it in the comments.

Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe

Start with the freshest pickling cucumbers you can find; your pickles are only going to be as good as the produce you start with. The fresher the cucumbers are, the crispier your pickles will be.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lbs pickling cucumbers (fresh from the market)
• 1 pound white or yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup pickling salt (can use Kosher salt as a substitute, regular table salt has additives in it that will turn the pickles dark and muddy the color of the pickle juice)
• 1 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar (5% acidity)
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 3/4 teaspoon celery seeds
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 6 allspice berries plus a pinch of ground allspice
• 6 whole cloves plus a pinch of ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

If you are planning to store pickles outside of refrigerator, you will need the following canning equipment:

• 5 pint-sized canning jars, clean, unused lids, metal screw bands for the lids (see Canning jars and lids)
• 1 16-qt canning pot with rack
• Jar lifters or tongs

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