Bread and Butter Style Pickle Recipe

Crisp Sliced Pickles are a Blue Ribbon Winner

Aug 1, 2009 Sheila Gaquin

Use excess cucumbers from the garden to make crisp, tangy, bread and butter style pickles with this easy to follow recipe.

Cucumbers from the garden seem to have a habit of ripening faster than most people can use them, so use the excess to make 8 pints of delicious, crisp, bread and butter style pickles.

Supplies for Making Bread and Butter Pickles

A large bowl or food grade bucket for chilling the cucumber slices
A large pot for making the syrup and heating the vegetable mix
A canning kettle with lid, deep enough to cover canning jars with at least an inch of boiling water during processing
8 clean pint canning jars
Canning lids soaking in hot water, and jar rings

These items are optional, but nice to have

Canning tongs
Canning funnel

Ingredients for Bread and Butter Pickles

4 quarts of unpeeled, medium sized cucumbers, sliced about an eighth of an inch thick.
6 medium sized firm white onions, sliced
2 green peppers cored, seeded and sliced
3 garlic cloves
1/3 cup pickling salt
cracked ice

5 cups of sugar
3 cups of apple cider vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1-1/2 teaspoons of celery seed
2 tablespoons of mustard seed

Chill the Cucumber Slices for Crisp Pickles

Put the sliced cucumbers, onions, garlic and green peppers in a large bowl or clean plastic food grade bucket. sprinkle with the salt and cover with cracked ice. Let the vegetable-ice mix sit for about three hours. Then drain well and remove the garlic cloves.

Make the Pickling Syrup

Combine the sugar, vinegar, turmeric, celery seed, and mustard seed and bring to boil in a large pot. Carefully add the drained cucumbers and quickly return the mixture to a boil. Turn off the heat as soon as the mixture boils.

Fill Canning Jars with Pickle Mixture

Using a canning funnel to keep the jar rim clean, spoon the cucumber-syrup mixture into the jars leaving about a half-inch of head room. Wipe off the rims with a clean cloth and put the lids on and screw down the jar rings so they are snug, but not overly tight.

Put Jars of Pickles in the Water Bath for Processing

Lower the jars into boiling water so they are covered by about an inch of water. The water will stop boiling when the jars are put in the canner, so bring the water to a boil again, put the lid on the canner and then begin timing. Process the jars for five minutes.

Check the Seal on the Canning Jars and Store the Pickles

After five minutes, remove the jars from the water bath and set them on a clean dish towel. As the jars cool they will make a popping sound indicating that the lids are sealing. When the jars are cool, push down on the middle of each jar lid. It should be firm and not give. Sealed jars are ready to be stored. If the jar lid can be depressed, it has not sealed properly. Unsealed jars can be reprocessed in a boiling bath a second time, or stored in the refrigerator until consumed. It takes about a week for the flavor of the pickles to fully develop.

These crisp pickle slices add zest to sandwiches and salads, and are delicious on their own. Properly sealed, they store well for at least a year.