With the larger than normal crop of cucumbers this year we have branched out from the normal fermented pickles to try our hand at bread and butter pickles.
We found a recipe from our favorite YouTube chef, Chef John from FoodWishes.com.
This recipe turned out great as a refrigerator pickle recipe and with a few tweaks to reduce the amount of sugar we will try our hand at canning some.
The appearance is a little off since I only had ground mustard and not mustard seed (these are hard to find like a lots of other things these days).
Chef John's Bread and Butter Pickles
Recipe By:Chef John
"At the end of summer during the Great Depression the excess cucumber crop was sliced, salted, pickled, and put up in jars for the cold, lean months ahead. I can just imagine what a treat it was to fill a sandwich with these sweet crunchy coins (bread and butter pickles, as they came to be known). I'm sure it was a wonderful break from what must have been a fairly flavorless existence. For longer storage, you can process the pickles in canning jars in a boiling water canner."
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pickling cucumbers, sliced
- 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
- 2 red jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced into rings
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 cups distilled white vinegar
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 tablespoon mustard seed
- 1 teaspoon celery seeds
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Directions
- Combine cucumbers, onion, and peppers in a bowl; pour kosher salt over the top and stir to coat completely. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, 2 to 4 hours. Rinse cucumber mixture in a colander under cold water until all salt is washed away, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain.
- Stir vinegar, sugar, water, garlic, mustard seed, celery seed, peppercorns, turmeric, and ground cloves together in a saucepan; bring to a simmer and cook until brine flavors combine, about 2 minutes. Add cucumber mixture to brine; heat until almost boiling, remove from heat, and cool completely. Transfer to jars and store in the refrigerator.
