Bread and Butter Pickles

I made Bread and Butter Pickles for the first time ever. It's been a long time since I first dreamed of making my own pickles like this, I think ever since I tasted my bestie Jane's mom's bread and butter pickles back in high school. Okay, so I have been thinking about it for a really, really long time...

I happened to spot a recipe for them on Pinterest last week, AND I had a bunch of cucumbers on hand, thanks to SLO Veg. I only needed three cucumbers, for gosh sakes. For some reason I always thought I would need a whole lug of pickles before I canned them. Geesh! What a dope. I was even going to try and grow my own cucumbers for pickle-making. Now I have SLO Veg and my cucumbers are grown by certified-professional organic farmers who know just how to grow them. I just made six little jars of pickles from three cucumbers and it was so darn easy! 

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Here is another link on Eating Well:

http://www.eatingwell.com/blogs/healthy_cooking_blog/how_to_pickle_anything_no_canning_necessary

BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES

Thinly slice three cucumbers and one onion. Mix the cucumbers and onion with about 4 Tbs salt in a bowl and then cover with ice cubes. Place in refrigerator for at least three hours or overnight. Rinse the cucumbers well and drain in a colander. Gather ingredients for the pickling liquid; 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1 tbs yellow mustard seeds, 3/4 tsp celery seeds, 3/4 tsp ground turmeric, 1 1/2 cups each white vinegar and water. (I used a pickling spice mix and add turmeric). Mix all together in a large pot and bring to the boil. Add the drained cucumbers and slowly heat for 5 minutes. Place into warm, sterilized jars and seal. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.

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Lee tasted one this morning, and he decided he would need to take the whole jar with him to work. Okay, down to five jars...

So first I sliced all the cucumbers into thin slices. A mandolin would be great for this if I had one, but I don't...so think Christmas gift! Or maybe birthday, because that is sooner. I saw a real nice Kitchen Aide mandolin at Costco yesterday (hint, hint).

Anyway, all I did was salt the cucumbers and onions and put them into the frig overnight. The next day I made the brine, which was just sugar, vinegar, water and pickling spices. The recipe called for all these types of seeds, but since I had a pickling spice mixture on hand, I just used that and added the tumeric per the recipe. I heated that up, stirred in the rinsed and drained cucumber slices, and a pickle was born! I spooned them into my sterilized jelly jars, filled up the space with the pickling juice and put them into a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. That's it! So easy. I can't believe I have waited over 35 years to try this.I think I will go make a pickle sandwich now...