This year’s first batch of bread and butter pickles.
My mom makes the best bread and butter pickles. I bet you think your mom makes the best bread and butter pickles, too. So is it about the cucumbers, the brine or the mom?
I asked around the office and looked around a bit online, and am I’m convinced it’s all about the mom. That’s because there’s so little variation in bread and butter pickle recipes. They all include the same five things in roughly the same proportions:
Cucumbers and Onions
Relatively thin rounds of sliced cucumbers and sliced onions. I usually peel my cukes but that’s up to you.
Vinegar
Plain white vinegar is standard. Some recipes call for blending it with apple cider vinegar.
Salt
Salting the cucumbers draws out the their natural juices so they’ll be eager to absorb the brine. This step requires a shocking amount of salt, but most of it gets poured off. Be sure to use kosher or pickling salt, not standard table salt
Sugar
You may be surprised by the large amount of sugar in these recipes. You can experiment with cutting it back a bit, but I doubt your mom would have done that.
Spices
Mustard seeds, celery seeds and turmeric are standard. Don’t use that old stuff in your spice drawer; your homegrown pickles deserve better. Some people add stick cinnamon, whole cloves and whole allspice. Did your mom do that?
Here’s the recipe my mom and I use. It’s from that oldy-but-goodie book published in the mid-70s, Putting Food By, by Ruth Hertzberg, Janet Greene and Beatrice Vaughan. If you’re not up for the canning part, just let the jars cool and then keep them in your refrigerator. I don’t have room in my refrigerator for more than one jar of pickles at a time, so I can my pickles so they can be stored on a shelf in the pantry.
A couple notes. I like to use the milder red or white onions rather than yellow onions. I also like to add a few red pepper slices to each jar for color (see photo, above).
Bread-and-Butter Pickles
from Putting Food By
- 6 lbs medium cucumbers
- 1 1/2 cups sliced onions
- 1 large garlic cloves, left whole
- 1/3 cup salt
- 2 trays of ice cubes
- 4 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 1/2 tsp celery seed
- 2 tbsp mustard seed
- 3 cups white vinegar
Wash the cucumbers thoroughly; drain; cut unpeeled cucumbers into 1/4-inch slices. In a large bowl, combine the cucumber slices, onion, garlic and salt; cover with the ice, mix thoroughly and let stand for 3 hours. Drain off the liquid and remove the garlic. In a large pot, combine the sugar, spices and vinegar and heat just to a boil. Add the cucumber and onion slices; simmer together 10 minutes. Pack loosely in clean, hot pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom; remove air bubbles. Adjust lids; process in a boiling-water bath (212 degrees F.) for 10 minutes. Remove. Cool. Makes 7 pints.
If you’re not an experienced pickle-maker, you might want to check out the B&B pickle recipe on Simply Recipes as there are good step-by-step photos that give you an idea what to expect at each stage.
Have your own special tweaks on this traditional homemade condiment? Leave a recipe or comment below.
We use apple cider vinegar instead of white. And on half of the jars we place 2 broken chile peppers with seeds in each jar then fill them.
Have been pickling for a long time, lost my cukes, so used zucchini, a little softer but great pickles.
Redwood Turtle
I absolutely love bread and butter pickles. Yummy. I love to put red pepper flakes for a pinch of spice.
Soak in pickling lime overnight up to 24 hours. Rinse thoroughly. Pickle as usual, makes for extra crunchy and crisp pickles. Eliminates the soaking in salt and or ice water.
How much pickling lime do you use?
Any reason why white vinegar is used in the recipe? I’ve always used cider vinegar called-for in the recipe I got from a neighbor.
Cider vinegar works fine. It does add its own flavor to the recipe, whereas white vinegar is more flavorless.
I think this is a pretty nice idea. I would love to make some since I am not really busy.
Good recipe, mine is just a little different. This year I am trying Ball’s Pickle Crisp instead of salt or lime, so I’ll see how good it works.
Ball pickle crisp works quite well. I have been using it for 3 years now. Do NOT use in PLACE of salt. You only use 1/8 tsp per pint, or 1/4 tsp per quart. Very little sodium is added to the finished product.
I have found you must use bottled water and not water softened water esp. when making dill pickles
Would the lime crisp up zucchini slices if soaked over night?
I’m not fond of sweet pickles. Can the sugar be eliminated or will that affect the fermentation?
My great aunt made delicious bread and butter pickles. She just used the recipe from the old canning book “Putting Food By” but her secret ingredient was simmering 3 cinnamon sticks in the brine. I have no idea how she got the idea to do that. Simmer the sticks in the brine but remove them before canning. I know that sounds very strange but it is major yum. It just gives it a little kick it needs yet you wouldn’t be able to detect that what you’re tasting is cinnamon. Try it!
You mention this recipe takes a lot of salt, but you do not say how much or for how long. Please add that and advise. Thank you
The recipe included in this post calls for 1/3 of a cup of salt and it is recommended to let it sit for three hours. We apologize if this information was missing from this post, it is now included.
-Andrew P., Gardener’s Supply Co
how long can they stay in fridge?
We recommend storing these bread and butter pickles in your fridge no longer than 2 months.
-Andrew P., Gardener’s Supply Co
I am sure that this is a ‘safe’ recommended time. However, the pickle recipe I use is similar to yours, and the recipe creator said she had used the pickles up to 2 years in the fridge. I have used mine up to a year, and they are still delicious. I am wondering why you feel the pickles are unsafe for consumption after 2 months??
This recipe is for what are referred to as “refrigerator pickles” and the reason we only recommend the 2 month time frame for storing and enjoying is that the recipe does not include instructions on the sanitizing and sealing of your jars. Pickle recipes meant for longer-term storage will include instructions for sealing the jars. Some recipes may have you use hot jars and hot brine that will result in a fairly reliable seal ratio (meaning most of the jars will properly seal), other recipes will have you put the filled and closed jars in a boiling water bath to be processed for a specific amount of time. The sign of a sealed jar (assuming you are using canning jars with a lid and ring system) is an indented dome on the lid. Jars that do not seal properly will still have a protruding dome.
Here is a link with lots more information regarding canning and preserving.
http://www.freshpreserving.com/canningmenu.html
Andrew P., Gardener’s Supply Company
has anyone added ginger? Just love ginger flavor and thought I would ask.
Absolutely, Ginger is a great way to add some extra kick to your bread and butter pickles. Just keep in mind a little goes a long way, and fresh is always best!
-Gardener’s Supply Co
Putting food by is my canning bible!