Bread & Butter Pickles
July 17, 2010 | Print | E-mail | Filed under canning, pickling, tigresscanjam
After my first pickling experience, I was pretty sure I was never going to pickle anything again. I just didn’t enjoy the process – it was messy, everything smelled like vinegar all day, and I really didn’t know what to do with pickled carrots (I still don’t). It wasn’t until a camping trip we took with friends that I got excited about pickling again, because one of my friends had brought along her grandma’s bread & butter pickles. I don’t even like pickles, and I fell in love with these! She told me that her grandma’s secret was that she threw in some summer squash along with the cucumbers. So, that’s exactly what I did for this month’s Tigress Can Jam challenge, which was cucurbits. I used the recipe for bread & butter pickles from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, and made my modifications from there…and this time, I turned the fan on over the stove and opened every window in the house, which kept the vinegar smell to a minimum. Instead of pint-sized jars, I used eight-ounce jars – the perfect size for a picnic basket!
- 5 cups thinly sliced cucumbers
- 4 cups thinly sliced yellow squash
- 1/2 medium onion, sliced
- 1/2 cup pickling salt (I used kosher)
- 3 cups white vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp dill seeds
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
In a glass bowl, combine the cucumbers, squash, onions, and salt. Mix well, then cover with cold water and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.
Transfer to a colander, rinse with cool water, and drain thoroughly.
Prepare your canning supplies. Sterilize the canning jars by running them in almost boiling water for several minutes. Boil a few cups of water in a small saucepan for the lids.
In a large pot, combine the vinegar, sugar, mustard and dill seeds, and turmeric. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the vegetables and return to boiling.
Pack the vegetables into the hot jars to within 1/2″ at the top of the jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid into the jars to cover the vegetables, leaving 1/2″ headspace.
Place jars in the canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove the canner lid and wait 5 minutes before removing the jars. Makes about 5 eight-ounce jars.
Loading ...
July 17th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I love pickles and homemade bread and butter pickles must taste wonderful. The idea of adding the summer squash sounds great. Those will sure be delicious on a sandwich:) I have to try canning one of these day; you have inspired me.
I also wanted to tell you that I made your BBQ chicken and pineapple quesadilas. They were delicious. Everyone in my family loved them, and believe me, that is not an easy thing to accomplishment. I will be blogging about them eventually. Could not get any pics this time..gobbled up too quickly. Thanks again.
July 17th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Raina – I hope you do try canning; it becomes quite addicting!
And, I’m so glad to hear that everyone loved the quesadillas – they’re definitely a new favorite in our house, too!
July 17th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
YUM! They scream summer!
July 18th, 2010 at 6:45 am
Those pickles look amazing. I too am new to pickle admiring, having never developed a taste for them, so it is great when the sight of some colourful jars makes me want to have a taste. You are inspiring me to make some.
July 18th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I purchased a jar of squash bread and butter pickles at a farmers’ market and I’ve been planning to make some myself ever since. They’re great when you want bread and butter pickles in a sandwich without the crunch of a cucumber pickle. The softness of them also keeps you from pulling a pickle out of the sandwich when you take a bite like sometimes happens with a cucumber pickle. Sometimes you want crunch and sometimes you don’t!
Can’t wait to make these!
July 18th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Pickling can be quite the long fuss but so worth it! your pickles look So good!
July 18th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
these are really beautiful—love the color the turmeric gives them! i had a failed attempt at pickling cucumbers myself, but love pickling other stuff. maybe i’ll give it another try. great photos, too!
July 19th, 2010 at 9:45 am
What gorgeous colors and a fabulous looking recipe, love it!
July 19th, 2010 at 10:13 am
I’ve never made pickles! I want to now!
July 19th, 2010 at 10:15 am
These look so pretty, I love yellow courgette but you don’t see it in the UK very often.
July 19th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Is it bad that whenever I see pickles my mouth immediately begins to water? I would love to have one of those pickles right now!
July 19th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Everyone says that pickling is so worth it. From the looks of this creation, it seems so.
July 19th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Bread and butter pickles are my favorite! I am excited to start canning this year and I think I am most excited for pickles!
July 19th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
I love pickles! These look fantastic. What a great photo too!
July 19th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
I can eat these…many of these!
July 20th, 2010 at 1:32 am
Aww these remind me of home so bad! I love making pickles!!
July 20th, 2010 at 10:10 am
I’m not a fan of pickles, either, but we have a lot of cucumber plants this summer! (No cucumbers yet, though, because we planted very late.) Hubby loves pickles, so I’m hoping to find a recipe I like, too. Maybe this is the one!
July 21st, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I love the addition of summer squash in these pickles. Bread and butter pickles are popular in my house and our summer squash will be ripe soon.
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:23 pm
These pickles look lovely! I love that you added summer squash… I’ll have to try that with my next batch!
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:33 am
Ok, I haven’t hauled out my canning equipment in a couple of years now, but you may have just provided the impetus for me to do so! These looks SO good.