Bread and Butter Pickles (photos)

We had about 6 pounds of small cucumbers last weekend and the wife (MHNBPF) made bread and butter pickles for us. They are tasty. Here is how she made them.

Need:

6 pounds cucumbers
1 1/2 cups onions (thin sliced)
2 large cloves garlic (minced)
2 quarts ice
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons powdered turmeric
3 cups white vinegar
1/3 cup pickling salt
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
2 Tablespoons Mustard seed

Wash cucumbers - we had nice small ones



and dry them



They will be sliced 1/8 inch thick on the mandolin







Prep the onions (thin sliced) and garlic (minced)





Then add 1/3 cup of pickling salt





and mix it to coat the cucumbers. The intent here is to pull water out of the cucumbers and replace it with the pickling juice and spices.



Ice is added to cool the cucumbers during a 4 hour salt exposure.



At the end of the 4 hour salt treatment, the pickling spices are mixed.



while the cucumbers drain



Vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery seed, mustard and a cinnamon stick





This is heated to a boil



and then the cucumbers are added



The cucumber and spice brew is brought back to a boil and boiled for 5 minutes.



As the cucumbers do their thing, the jars are prepped - washed thoroughly to make certain they are squeaky clean and then air dried



A sanitary seal for the jar is critical. The dome lids are boiled 5-10 minutes to soften the gaskets which will seal to the jar when the rings are tightened



Jars are clean, domes are ready, cucumbers have cooked for 5 minutes after coming to a boil. Into the jars they go.



Then the cucumbers are covered with pickling juice. The cinnamon stick is discarded.





Any spice debris or liquid is carefully removed from the jar sealing surface to assure proper sealing. The hot domes and rings are placed and tightened firmly.



The jars are placed in a water bath with water filled to the shoulder of the jar. The bath is brought to a boil and held there for 5 minutes then removed from heat and allowed to cool slowly to comfortable handling temperature. The lids will "POP" when they seal. Any that don't pop should be refrigerated. The wife wanted me to write that all of her jar lids "Popped".



When cooled enough to handle the jars are removed and allowed to finish cooling on a towel.



These are nice crunchy bread and butter pickles after 24 hours in the sealed jar. They will only get better over the next few months.


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