pickles

Bread and Butter Pickle Project – Beautiful Pickles!

I am watering someone’s plants while they take an extended vacation.  Since their pickling cucumbers are going to waste I decided to try something new; I made pickles this week.  Old fashioned bread and butter pickles which are tangy and sweet slices of yummy pickly goodness.  I think the name may come from the Depression era; from poor folk eating them often like you might enjoy bread and butter for a cheap meal.

This recipe comes out of an old Rodale cookbook, Stocking Up.  I did swap honey for sugar; not enough honey around here this week and I will have to try that next summer.  Plus I cut the recipe in like a fourth; not enough cukes for a huge batch; otherwise pretty close translation.  FYI: they need to have sugar, turmeric, mustard and onions to be called bread and butter pickles.

They have to sit a few weeks so I am trying to be patient.  Want pickles now.  Oh well, I guess store pickles will have to do at present.

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If you get a few pickling cukes; they are kinda cute; all bumpy and gray green, try this recipe and impress your family. Pickle making seemed so mysterious but it is really not hard at all and I enjoyed the process.  They are fun to make and gluten free, of course!

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Bread and Butter Pickles

6 decent sized pickling cucumbers

2 medium sized onions

2 tsp. sea salt.

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2 ¼ cups white vinegar

1 1/3 cup sugar

¾ tsp. celery seed

¾ tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp turmeric

¾ tsp. mustard seed

Directions: Rinse off your cucumbers, peel the onions, slice cucumbers into rounds and onions into medium thick slices, put in colander, sprinkle with salt. Let stand an hour. Drain well.  Make a vinegar mix with the rest of the ingredients; put in a pot and bring to a boil.  Add the cukes and onions, bring back to boil.  Pack in sterilized pint jars using a ladle; leaving ¼ inch head space.  Put on brand new lids and rings (which can be used) – tighten, process ten minutes in a boiling water bath.  Let cool, store a few weeks before opening. Enjoy! Makes 4 pints.

Pretty Tasty Pickles You Can Make in a Big Jar

Some of us adore pickles and some dislike them.  If you are a pickle fan read on.  If not, read anyway as these are far better than the tired flabby canned pickles found at the grocery store.  A good gardening friend gave me this recipe.  It is really easy and rather fun to construct.  Even better is that you can pickle most any veggies. I have tried zucchini, carrots, cauliflower, green peppers and red peppers.  Of course, cucumbers are in there too!

You do need a couple grape leaves.  You might be able to find a neighbor with a grape vine.  I am betting you could use wild grape leaves from a state park or along a country road.   They really add to the authenticity of it so snag a few from somewhere.

Also needed are 3 dill heads (the flowers of a dill plant).  This might be more problematic but if you know a real gardener, aka someone like me, you can beg the dill heads as frankly they are not used much for cooking and I was happy to give some to the friend who gave me this recipe.  Grow your own dill for next summer; it is so easy to do and it does reseed and come back year after year.  Dill is lovely in potato salad and in other salads like my stuffed tomatoes which I plan to blog about later this week!

Refrigerator Pickles

2 cups white vinegar

¼ cup salt;  I used kosher salt in mine

4 cups water (I used 3 as my jar was slightly smaller than a gallon)

¾ cup sugar

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3 garlic cloves cut up

3 dill heads

2 grape leaves

Bring the first four ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan and let cool fully.  Put the other three ingredients in the bottom of a gallon jar.  Cut up your veggies and pile in the jar.  Top with the vinegar mixture. Put on the lid. Put in the fridge and let marinate for 3 days before trying it.

I have used pickling cucumbers, regular cukes, short zucchini spears, broken up cauliflower heads, thin slices of white turnip and pepper strips.  pickle jar  I want to try broccoli next!  Maybe celery?

My grandson who is three and a half clamors for the pickle jar to come out when he eats meals here.  I say, eat your lunch and you can have some pickles! He gobbles up his food and waits expectantly for me to fish out a pickle or two.

I like how fresh they are and how crunchy the pieces still are. Plus they have no additives or preservatives.  Naturally gluten free is important to those of us with celiac or wheat allergies.

You can keep adding veggies as you use them up.  I think the tough part is fishing them out of the jar.  The other day I lost a fork in there but luckily it didn’t go to the bottom of the jar; a cuke round stopped its descent! Now, go pickle fresh veggies and have some fun with it….

Originally posted late in July 2014 but I figured you were ready to make some pickles this summer so I posted it again!