These are the best Bread & Butter Pickles you will ever eat.  Crisp, crunchy, sweet & sour all at once!  One batch of pickles makes about 4-5 quarts of pickles.  Remember to can some in 1/2 pint or pint containers for gift giving.  You can view three short videos of the process of making these pickles on Facebook at Keepyourfork.  The recipe is below.

Ingredients:  1 gallon medium cucumbers (about 6 pounds): 10 small white onions (about 1 pound), 1 large green pepper and 1 large red pepper.  Buy organic whenever possible.

You will also need:  1/2 cup of salt;  a bag of cracked ice; 5 cups of apple cide vinegar; 5 cups of sugar; and for spices: 1 1/2 tsp. tumeric; 1/2 tsp. ground clove: 2 Tbs. whole mustard seeds and 1 Tbs. celery seed. 

 To make these pickles first clean your jars and lids in hot soapy water and then cover them completely in boiling water and boil until the jars are sterilized (30 minutes is a good length of time to sterilize the jars and lids).  Make sure the jars are true canning jars with glass that will withstand the heating process.  Make sure the jars are perfect – no nicks or defects (run your finger over the rim to check for damage).  Keep the jars hot until ready to use (pouring a hot liquid into a cold jar can cause breakage).  They can be kept in the sterilizing water.  Keep jar lids in hot water until ready to use.

Next very thoroughly wash (with a vegetable brush) all vegetables: cucumbers, green peppers, red peppers, and small white onions.  Next slice the cucumbers (with skin on) into thin round slices, slice and separate onions into thin rings, slice peppers into thin strips.  Place these ingredients together in a clean bowl or sink and cover with salt and ice.  Let sit undisturbed for three hours.

Now take the vegetables (with as little ice water as possible) and put them into a large pot.  Add the vinegar, sugar and spices and stir everything well.   Heat everything until the brine and pickles come to a boil and then immediately put the pickles and brine into the hot jars.  Fill and seal each jar one at a time and make sure there are no air bubbles in the filled jar by gently pushing down the pickles with a spoon or by slipping a knife edge down the side of the filled jar.  Leave about  1/2 inch of empty space at the top of the jar and make sure the pickles are totally covered with the brine.  Immediatley put the lid and rim onto each jar and snug the rim (but do not overtighten it). 

Set aside the jars and leave them undisturbed until the vacuum seal is established (until jars have cooled to room temperature).  You can now remove the rim of the jar and store your pickles in a cool dark place (do not let them freeze). 

If you do not have a vacuum seal the jar lid will not be sealed and will bounce up and down when pushed with your finger.  Just eat that jar now… and ENJOY!  Lids will make a popping noise as they seal! 

This family pickle recipe was passed to me Liza Eaton Fulton: by my mother Virginia Barbour (Eaton) Huntington, who learned it from her mother, Florence Agar Barbour; who learned it from her mother, Bessie Chaffee Agar.  I don’t know who taught Bessie.  I hope this recipe also becomes one of your family treasures. 

Remember, these are sweet pickles and are meant to be eaten as a condiment and compliment to the meal – not to become the whole meal!  Resist the tempation!

May the Fork be with You.