September 8, 2009

Delicious Bread and Butter Pickle Recipe (Quick and Easy)

I mentioned on Friday that I had eaten bread and butter pickles at my Mom’s house not long ago. When she asked if I wanted to try some of the sweet pickles she made, I quickly said no, since I can’t stand sweet pickles.

But, when Eric had some, I decided to try a little taste. Then, I had to steal them off of his plate. And, just a few days later, I had to make my own batch. I was pleased at how easy they were to make.

My Mom picked up almost all of the ingredients I needed for me. So, the first step was to wash the pickling cucumbers that she had picked up for me. I forgot to count how many I started with. I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 – 16.

Next, I thinly sliced all of the pickling cucumbers. I ran out of room in the bowl I was putting them in, so you’ll see that I just stuck a cucumber’s worth in each of the big jars that I was getting ready to use.

I also chopped up the onion. And I cried. And I chopped some more, and I cried some more.

I am normally not crazy about onions, so I only used about half the amount in the recipe, but I decided that it was probably important to the recipe to actually put them in. (Plus, on the up side, the onions get pickled too, and they just taste a lot like pickles in the end.)
I filled up six jars with cucumber slices and chopped onions. My Mom warned me many times to really jam the jars full of cucumbers and onions. I thought I had. Let me tell you — I definitely had not. Next time I make them, I am going to push much harder than this. They aren’t all that full, though they do look really full.

I boiled the mixture. I also got too close and sniffed just at the right moment, and it kind of burned my sinuses. Okay, maybe not really burnt them, but it was not pleasant.

Do you know what was less pleasant? When I did it again.

(Quick note: Be sure to check out number four on this list to see my tip about buying the spices very inexpensively.)

I’m funny about pouring boiling hot liquids. So, instead of pouring the boiling hot liquid from the pan straight into the jars, I used a super-sized mixing cup (okay, it’s really the batter bowl or something like that from a certain company that sent me a cease and desist email).

Yummy! Hello pickles and onions and spices! You look so good.

So, here’s the proof that I did not pack in the jars full enough. See how each jar has quite a large area of liquid at the bottom? Yeah, you see it? Well, that’s the proof. (It got a little bit worse after this too!)

Bread and Butter Pickles Recipes

Ingredients:

1 teaspoons Celery seeds

1 teaspoons Mustard seeds

4 cups sugar

2 cups vinegar

2 tablespoons salt

1 large onion

pickling cucumbers

Directions:

1. Slice unpeeled cucumbers (thinly) and sliced onion into glass jars. Pack tightly.

2. Bring spices, sugar and vinegar to a boil.

3. Pour over cucumbers and onions.
(Quick note: I didn’t have enough liquid for the amount of cucumbers I had, but the nice thing is that the mixture comes together really fast. So, I just whipped up another 1/4 batch of the liquid to finish up my jars. So, don’t worry if you don’t have the right amount.)

4. Store in fridge. Mix occasionally. (Keeps for many months.)

Enjoy! (I know I have been. I actually had 12, yes 12, pickles on my hamburger at dinner time tonight.)