Best recipe for bread and butter pickles?

[Incitatus]

I know one of you knows.

[Lugnut]

1. I might have my mother's recipe.

I'll look through her recipe box tomorrow to see if that was one she wrote down. I used to help her make them when I was a kid and they were delicious.

[japple]

2. This is the recipe my mother used and she was famous for her pickles. I've

been using it for several years and have had nothing but compliments. I think you'll need to sterilize about 6 pint jars with rings/seals, but I always do one extra in case I drop something on the floor. If you've never pickled anything before, you'll need to read instructions on how to prepare the jars, etc. The Ball Jar Canning Book is a good guide, but there are lots of places to get instructions, esp. your county agricultural extension office. Let me know how they turn out.


Bread & Butter Pickles

4 quarts thinly sliced cucumbers
1-1/2 thinly sliced onions
1 cup chopped bell pepper (green or red)
½ cup thinly sliced carrots (optional)
5 garlic cloves

Add 1/3 cup pickling salt and cover with cracked ice. Let stand 3 hrs. or over night. Rinse and drain. Remove garlic.

5 cups sugar
3 cups vinegar
2 tablespoons mustard seed
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon turmeric

Mix together and bring to a boil. Add cucumbers and bring to boil again. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, then place in sterilized jars. Seal tightly and process in water bath for 10 min.

[Lugnut]

5. That's it!

If you like sweet pickles these are the way to go.

[trixicopper]

3. This is a recipe my mother used to make

She called them bread and butter pickles. They're good and it's easy to make them.

This recipe is easily halved.

2 jars of dill pickles-1 quart 14 oz. size (no garlic or spices in jar)
The kind that just have pickles and juice in the jar.

Drain pickles in colander. Wash and save jars and lids.

Cut ends off of pickles and discard.

Cut pickles into 1/2 inch chunks.

Put back into jars.

Brine: Bring to a boil

4 1/2 C white sugar

1 1/2 C vinegar

2 1/2 T pickle spice

Cook 10 minutes, pour into jars and let sit 2 hours. Put on lids and place in fridge. Good to use in 5 days.

[grasswire]

4. I use a recipe from the Oregon Trail cookbook

Recipes contributed by descendants of pioneers.

6 quarts sliced cucumbers
1 1/2 quarts sliced onions
3/4 cup pickling salt
crushed ice or cubes
1 1/2 quarts vinegar
3 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup whole mustard seed
1/4 cup celery seed
3 tablespoons turmeric

Layer cumbers, onions, salt and ice in large bowl and let stand 4 hours. Rinse and drain. Combine vinegar, sugar and spices in a large stainless steel pot. Bring to a boil. Add cucumbers and onions and return just barely to a boil. Ladle into hot sterilized jars just leaving half inch headspace. Wipe rims and adjust lids. Process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes.

We had to make four batches of these last year -- we kept running out.