Refrigerator Bread & Butter pickles from her great-granddaughter Kathleen have been added to Mom’s Recipe Box.

Kathleen’s Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles

Pickles are most definitely a passion of mine. Half Sour, Dill, Kosher – I love them all. Except the Bread and Butter pickle is just something special. It’s a guiltless snack that can be gobbled up so quickly; of course when I looked at the two cups of sugar that goes into pickle juice … I’ll try to only have a couple slices at a time.

But it’s always about the memories that we have with food, Grannie, Muriel Bennett Lucas, had the same adoration for pickles that I do. We would open a jar of pickles (it never mattered what kind!) and watch television in the summer, and when the pickles were gone – I’d drink the juice.

I don’t much recall making pickles growing up, and every time I made the slightest attempt to – I would forget and the cucumbers would go bad. Although Sunday morning I was scrolling through Facebook and I noticed this exact recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles. I knew I had white vinegar and I was sold. Of course I still had to get the rest of the ingredients. Except once I have those, I’m set for a while. So while Evan, my fiance, is baking his chocolate chip cookies, I begin slicing the cucumbers. The time of preparation that goes into this recipe does not seem long … but when you are waiting for something as delicious as homemade Bread and Butter pickles, 1 hour can be treacherous.

And the 24 hours of chilling afterwards – let’s just say it’s a good thing I was working over-time today! I would have been itching to open the fridge all day!! Once I was finished heating up our leftover ribs, baked beans, and coleslaw – I officially cracked that first jar open. It is the most heavenly experience I have ever had making something with my own two hands. And I am proud to share it with everyone. Bread and Butter pickles for everyone forever! – Kathleen Miller

Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles – Yields: about 4 cups of pickles Preparation: 3 hours Cook: 5 minutes Total: 3 hours

Ingredients: 5 and a half cups ( about 1 and a half pounds) thinly sliced (about one quarter inch) pickling cucumbers; 1 and a half tablespoons kosher salt; 1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion; 1 cup granulated sugar; 1 cup white vinegar; one half cup apple cider vinegar; one fourth cup light brown sugar; one and a half teaspoon mustard seed; one half teaspoon celery seed; one eighth teaspoon ground turmeric

Directions:

1. Combine cucumbers and salt in a large, shallow bowl; cover and chill for 1 and a half hours. Move cucumbers into a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Drain well, and return cucumbers to bowl. Add onion to the bowl and toss with the cucumbers.
2. Combine the granulated sugar, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and turmeric in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
3. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumbers and onions; let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. Store in airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 month (if they last that long).

Wow!

Look so … tasty!

*My niece Kathleen writes her own food blog https://sweetlysavory.tumblr.com/ – this recipe also appears on her blog.

Look for Mom’s Recipe Box as an occasional feature on newsandviewsjb as family members add to and celebrate my mother’s collection of recipes – the Cecelia G. Bennett collection – JB