Bread and Butter Pickles, Made Easy

"Learn how to make pickles" has been on my recipe Bucket List for a long time.  It's somewhere between "Learn how to make sourdough bread" and "Learn if there is such a thing as non-fat Puff Pastry".  Me thinks I'll never find the answer to the last thing on my list, but one can only hope.   While shopping at my local farm stand, I asked "Sarah" if I still had more time for their organic fresh-picked strawberries.  I have learned how to make my own jam, and I want to be sure my cupboards are stocked with Olallieberry Jam, Strawberry Jam, Apricot-Pineapple jam and-- my personal favorite-- Raspberry Jam.   Sarah didn't hear me say "strawberries" so she blurted out that if I wanted pickling cucumbers that I'd better get them now!

So the moment had arrived.  It was time to kick the bucket... the list, that is! So, I grabbed some cucumbers, hoping that I had enough.  When I arrived home, I went to my most trusted source of  recipe sources...Food Blogs!  There are a lot of ways to make Bread & Butter Pickles, but I wanted something easy.  Smitten Kitten provided the perfect recipe for me! So, here are the six ingredients I needed, most of which I had on hand. Well, one onion could count for seven, but I count that as a vegetable.

These are a pound of picking cucumbers...

I have a cute little crinkle cutter,  so I decided to put it to good use. These are about 1/4" thickness.  You could use a mandoline, or a sharp knife. I used a mandoline to slice the onion very thin...

Well, now my math is off!  You need salt, so that makes eight ingredients!  I used kosher salt. I've heard of picking salt, but I didn't want to invest in too many ingredients, in case my first attempt at pickle making was a flop.

Give this all a nice "mix" and...

...cover with ice and relax for two hours. 

Now, drain the the cucumbers and, then, put them in a pot. Grab a smaller pot and turn the stove to medium-high heat...

...and add the coriander seeds, mustard seeds, tumeric, and celery seed. Bring to a boil, and pour over the cucumbers.  Bring the pickles and juice back, just to a boil, and remove from heat. 

NOTE: When I first tasted the pickles, I thought that I misunderstood, and should have rinsed the salt. They were salty!  I later realized there was no need to panic. These didn't taste like what I had hoped until a few hours later.

 I decided to boil some water, and do the water bath method for canning.  I could hear the lids "ping" as the cooling of the jars sealed the pickles.  I left one jar, unopened, because I made "Sliders" and I thought the pickles would be a perfect test drive with these:

VERDICT: So, how were the pickles?  Craig loved them.  I have to admit that I'm not a fan of dill pickles. If pickles are mistakenly put on my burgers, I confess that I will quickly remove the offending condiment.  But these pickles are very different.  My son, who has inherited my dislike of dill pickles refused to try one. I gave him those "Mama Guilty-Puppy Eyes".  He ate one. Then another.  These are sweet, but not overly sweet. Many recipes I saw use a lot more sugar. Increase or decrease, according to your taste. Just keep two things in mind-- the saltiness mellowed by the next day. The sweetness increased by the next day.  There's a nice bonus to eating these pickles-- I love it when I bite into a coriander seed. Mmmmm!

This weekend, I hope that Sarah still has some cucumbers for me. I'm making more.  If you're on my Christmas list, please pretend you didn't see this post.  It might be in your gift basket.

The printable recipe is at the bottom of this post.  So, what's on your Recipe Bucket List?

Enjoy!