Bread and Butter Pickles
Perfectly sweet and tangy, these Bread and Butter pickles are a family recipe worth cherishing.
Growing up these pickles were a staple to have in the pantry. My family would make them by the bushels and we would have tasty Bread and Butter pickles for sandwiches all year long. The only thing I really didn’t care for when I would eat these pickles was the fact that they weren’t flavorful enough for my liking. This was my grandmother’s recipe and I don’t fault on how she would make these specific pickles but I did feel like there was plenty of room for improvement.
I decided to scale down the original recipe and alter the process so you don’t need to process the jars in a water canner. I also decided to punch up the flavor a bit by adding some onions, more aromatics as well as swapping the granulated sugar for brown sugar. All these elements seem like small changes but even the smallest changes could have the biggest impact. The results are a delightfully sweet and tangy pickle bursting with flavor. Any sandwich would be honored to host such a pickle.
Bread and Butter Pickles
1 lb. fresh cucumbers
1 small white onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp celery seeds
2 tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 TBSP kosher salt
Prepare one wide-mouth quart mason jar by washing the jar, lid, and ring in warm, soapy water and rinse well. Set aside to dry, or dry completely by hand.
Fill a large bowl or pot a quarter of the way with ice and then fill it up halfway with cold water, set aside.
Prepare the cucumbers by washing with cool water and laying out on a kitchen towel to dry slightly. Cut the cucumbers into rounds about ¼ inch thick and place the cucumber coins into your bowl of ice water, set aside. Thinly slice your onion and place it in the ice bath with the cucumbers. The ice water helps to firm up the cucumber slices so they retain some of their crunch.
Smash your clove of garlic and place it in your clean mason jar.
In a small pot, combine the vinegar, brown sugar, seeds, turmeric and kosher salt. Stir until the brown sugar is dissolved and set the pot on high heat. Stir your brine mixture occasionally until it starts to boil.
While you’re waiting for the brine to boil, pack your jar with cucumber and onion slices. You want to layer the cucumber and onion evenly and tightly in the jar. I would add a layer of cucumber and then a thin layer of onion, keep layering until the jar is fully packed. During the layering process you want to make sure you leave minimal gaps. Obviously you’re going to have some gaps but try to fill in what you can with smaller pieces of cucumber and onion. You just want to tightly pack the vegetables without smashing them.
Once boiling your brine is at a rolling boil, pour the brine into the jar making sure the cucumbers and onion are completely submerged.
Tap the jar gently on the countertop to release excess air bubbles out of the layers. Fasten the lid with the ring and let the jar cool on the countertop for at least 20 minutes before placing it in the fridge.
Leave the jar in the fridge for at least two days to give the vegetables time to pickle in the brine. Crack open your pickles and enjoy.