Preserve It! Bread and Butter Pickles

While on a recent visit to my Dad’s I had the pleasure of experiencing bread and butter pickles every day with lunch. Enough so that my daughter even said, “Pickles again with lunch?” as if there was something wrong with that. Growing up, bread and butter pickles were a staple in my house to accompany just about any sandwich at lunch time and certainly every dinner that consisted of hot dogs and hamburgers.

For years I had thought that the recipe had been handed down from my grandmother. As the story goes, my father had an uncle who lived on a farm in Pennsylvania where he spent his summers. At the end of the season, canning was a necessity as refrigeration was not what it is today and this was the only way to preserve the bounty of fruits and vegetables. The root cellar was huge and filled each year. As we were discussing this one night, he informed me that the pickle recipe I thought came from my grandmother was actually from a friend of my mother’s. Copied and handed over following a barbecue.

While not the heirloom recipe I thought, it’s very good and makes great pickles.  So, if you like bread and butter pickles, I encourage you to try it. My father doubles the recipe and has more than enough pickles to last for a year until cucumbers are available again. As I am the only one in my house who eats them, I’ll be making the single batch.

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Bread and Butter Pickles

What you need:

• 8 wide-mouth pint jars with lids (wide mouth jars are much easier to fill with the hot liquid)
• 6 quarts Kirby cucumbers (about 7 – 7 1/2 lbs.)
• 6 onions, sliced in rings
• 1 cup salt
• 1 1/2 quarts white vinegar
• 6 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup mustard seed
• 2 T. celery seed
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

What’s next:

1. Wash your jars in the dishwasher and place lids and bands in a pot of boiling water. Remember to keep your jars hot following the drying cycle.
2. Slice cucumbers and onions thin, thin, thin (a mandolin helps). If slicing onions bothers your eyes try squeezing a little lemon juice on your mandolin.
3. Place cucumber, onion and salt in a large bowl and let stand for 3 hours.
4. Drain and rinse in batches. Be sure to rinse well or your pickles will be salty.
5. Combine vinegar, sugar and remaining seasonings in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Add cucumbers and onions and return to a boil.
6. Use a large soup ladle to fill jars.
7. Top each jar with lid and then bands.
8. Process in hot water bath for 5 minutes.

Makes 8 pints.