How to Process Bread and Butter Pickles

My grandma used to make Bread and Butter Pickles. They were my favorite over dill pickles. I recall an open jar of bread and butter pickles on many a Sunday dinner table. I usually ate a few with whatever what served that day. We did not need to be eating sandwiches to eat bread and butter pickles. We ate them for the flavor.

Memories

I reached out to my aunts to find out if they had a recipe passed down by my grandma to them. A few hours later, I had a picture of a hand written recipe card text to me from an aunt. 

A warm feeling flooded my heart remembering my grandma as I looked at the familiar handwriting which had filled letters, cards and notes sent or given to me over the 34 years I was blessed to have this particular grandma in my life.

Bread and butter pickles, tasting like hers were not easy to find. Now, given the opportunity to create my own, I could hardly sleep. my excitement building.  The 2 Tokyo Green variety plants produced 50 plus cucumbers in a week.  I had plenty to work with, eat and share with family.

In years gone by, pickles were soaked, prior to canning, in either alum or lime to promote a crisper pickle.  For myself, I choose my health over a crisp pickle and opted to leave out the soaking process.

Her recipe written for a batch of 6 lbs. of cucumbers required a bit of math on my part. Instead of combining all of the spice and seeds, I would be placing a specific amount in each jar similar to the way I prepared the Dill Pickles.

Here is my version of my grandma’s Bread and Butter Pickle Recipe.  Spoiler alert: Yes, they do taste like my grandma’s, despite skipping the unhealthy step of soaking in alum and adding less sugar.  And no, I did not open a jar I canned. Keep reading to learn more.

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The Preparation

I sterilized the jars by boiling 10 min in the water bath canner prior to filling the jars.

Filling a pot with 3 cups water, 3 cups apple cider vinegar and 2 ¼ cups Evaporated Cane power as a sugar substitute, I started these heating on the stove while I filled the jars.

Preparing Jars

Add 1/3 T of Turmeric

Next, 1/2 T of Celery Seed

The third ingredient to go into the jar is 1/2 T of Mustard Seed

I grabbed a handful of chopped onions and placed into the jar. Since a handful is subjective a better description would be just enough to cover the bottom of the jar.

I measured between a 1/2 and 1/3 T of Redmond Sea Salt. This salt has a flavor all its own. It has not been processed like many other sea salt options on the market.

My last step before adding the brine to the jars was to slice the cucumbers and stuff as many as I could into each jar. I strived to keep the level of cucumbers below the threads of the jar.

By the time I had the jars ready the brine was boiling on the stove. It had reached a boil before I was ready for it so I turned it way down. Also, I stirred it a couple times until I knew the sugar had dissolved.

I filled the jars to a ½ inch below the top of the jar or just below the threads.

After using the plastic spoon to push any air bubbles to the top and squashing most of them, I cleaned the rims. I placed lids on the jars and rings.

Processing in Water Bath

Off I went to the water bath canner a few jars at a time. When the water reached a heavy rolling boil, I noted the time. After 10 min, had past, I removed the processed jars setting them on a towel.

I love hearing the pop of sealing canned goods. And yes, again I covered the jars with a towel too. If you did not read my post on How to Can Dill Pickles, you might not know I picked up this habit from canning with my grandma as a child.

I will say the workflow is a bit different because of heating the brine, but still an easy process, this thing of canning bread and butter pickles.

I mean it simply isn’t on the same level of needing to dodge a stallion about to plow me over or standing my ground when a wild mustang stallion charged my direction with his ears pinned.  Ah, the quiet life I lead these days.

Completed

I canned a total of 15 pints and 2 quarts. The quart jars I processed for an extra 5 minutes, a total of 15 minutes.

Since I had extra brine left over and hated to waste it, I put it in a glass jar with all the other ingredients except chopped onion as I was out. Covering the jar with a lid and rim I placed in the refrigerator. I sampled the next morning, evening and morning of day 2. The flavor continues to improve. These ingredients seem to work for refrigerator pickles too.

Tips

• Wash Cucumbers and remove both ends before slicing. I keep a pan of water close as I slice.
• Have the water in Canning pot hot and close to boiling as possible before placing the fill jars into process. It is important to fill hot jars and add a hot brine so the jars are not cold going into the almost boiling water. The glass may break if you place a cold glass jar in boiling hot water.

Related posts:

Tomato Juice: How to Prepare and Preserve How to Can Dill Pickles Sowing Seeds