Bread-N-Butter Pickles

So this past Friday I started another (40 lb) batch of my fermented dill pickles. Most of my relatives seem to like my pickles (at least that's what they say!) but my Mom is not a big fan them... in fact, Mom isn't particularly fond of dill at all, nor does she particularly like most sour foods, . In discussing that fact yesterday, she allowed as how she does like what she calls (and my Grandma used to call) bread-n-butter pickles.

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Now I grew up eating Grandma's pickles, and they were okay for a semi-sweet pickle, but I have to tell you I always preferred dills - which she didn't ever make. So anyway, I happened to have just enough pickling cukes left over from setting up the ferment to consider trying to make some bread-n-butter pickles for Mom.

Searching around the Internet for recipés, I discovered that almost every single one I found was a variant (usually with little or no real variation or attribution!) on the bread-n-butter pickle recipé published by the National Center for Home Food Preservation. That being the case, I felt fully justified in making minor modifications to it and calling it my own! So here's what you need to have or get, in order to do what I did:

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Suggested Equipment:

• Large cutting board
  
• Vegetable peeler
  
• Kitchen knives
  
• Mandoline slicer (optional)
  
• Large bowls
  
• Kitchen measures
  
• Kitchen scale
  
• Large plastic, food-grade zipper bag (2½ gallon)
  
• Water bath canner
  
• Jar lifter
  
• Headspace gauge
  
• Quart canning jars (4) with seals and rings
  

Ingredients:

1. Vidalia onions preferred.
   
2. Most people use yellow seed, I prefer a mixture of yellow and black
   

Item		Amount
Cucumber	Fresh, pickling variety	6	lb
Onion	Fresh1	3	lb
Bell pepper	Optional, large, fresh	1	ea
Salt	Canning or pickling	1	cup
Vinegar	Distilled, white, 5% acid	4	cup
Sugar	White, granulated	4½	cup
Mustard seed	Dry, whole2	3	Tbs
Celery seed	Dry, whole	1½	Tbs
Turmeric	Dry, ground	1	Tbs
Red pepper	Dry, crushed, flakes	1	Tbs
Bay leaf	Small	2	ea
Cloves	Dry, whole	8	ea

Directions:

1. Hand-wash each cucumber under running water, using a vegetable brush to dislodge and remove any foreign objects/substances. Using the vegetable peeler, remove ⅟₁₆" (about 2 mm) from both the blossom end and the stem end. If you skip this step, the remnant of the blossom will continue releasing ripening enzymes that will make your cucumbers unpleasantly soft; and the stem end is just ugly.

2. Cut the cucumbers into slices of approximately ⅛ " to ³⁄₁₆ " (3 mm to 5 mm) thickness. I like to use the mandoline for this, since you can get more uniform slices. Unfortunately, during this project, I broke my only mandoline! ☹ Fortunately, this task is also easily accomplished with a good, sharp knife and a cutting board - it just won't go as fast, and the slices may not be of uniform thickness.

3. Peel the outer layer off each onion, then wash and cut them into very thin slices.

4. Wash and cut the (optional) Bell Pepper into strips approximately ¼" (about 6mm) wide.

5. Place the prepared vegetables and the canning or pickling salt into the zipper bag, and close. Roll the bag around to thoroughly mix the vegetables, and to distribute the salt uniformly throughout.

6. Reopen the bag of vegetables and fill with ice and re-seal it, then refrigerate the bag for at least three and up to four hours. If you notice your ice becoming depleted, add some more.

7. After the vegetables have chilled, prepare your canner to receive jars: Fill with hot water (140℉/60℃) to a level which should be at least 1" (2.5 cm) higher than the top of your load of sealed jars. Continue heating, to maintain temperature and eventually raise it to a simmer. Keep the simmering water covered until you need it (to avoid loss of heat and water!).

8. Create a syrup, combining all of the remaining ingredients (vinegar, sugar, herbs and spices) in a large (8-12 quart) stock pot, mix thoroughly. Slowly bring the syrup to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.

9. Open the bag of vegetables and drain off the water. Add about two cups of cold water to the bag and roll it around in order to rinse the excess salt from the vegetables, then drain again. Add the vegetables to the stock pot containing the syrup, and gently stir them in, in order to distribute the syrup throughout the mass of vegetables. Slowly bring the vegetables and syrup back to a boil.

10. Fill each jar with hot vegetable pieces, and top off with syrup, leaving ½" headspace. Release any air bubbles trapped in the jars. Wipe the rim of the mouth of each jar with a clean, damp cloth, or paper towel. Apply the seals and rings according to the manufacturer's instructions.

11. Use the jar lifter to place the sealed jars into the canner, adding boiling water as needed to maintain a depth of at least 1" over the top of the jars. Bring the canner to a vigorous boil, and process the jars according to the instructions at NCHFP. At my altitude, that required 15 minutes of processing.

12. When processing is finished, remove the jars from the canner, using the jar lifter. Set aside in a safe place, and allow the jars to cool.

The final product looks like this:

Now all I have to do is wait four to five weeks for pickling to finish, and for the flavors to develop!

Following the "pickling" period, we tried out the pickles at home before presenting them to Mom. As expected, they were pretty much just a sweet pickle, and acceptable for use as such. Mom seems to like them though, at least for now.