My Nana made bread-and-butter pickles every summer. Their crunchy, super sweet, clove taste always takes me back to summers in Ohio, running out to the garden where my Grandaddy always hid a ceramic cucumber for one of us to find. We hauled in the bounty and watched Nana fill Mason jars and seal them in the big black enamel canning pot. Days later, we would have shaved ham on thinly-sliced Pepperidge Farm white bread spread thick with butter and those candied, sweet pickle slices.
Few of us have canning pots and go through the effort of true canning anymore, so here is a quick version anyone can do, no special equipment needed. Just be sure to eat them within a few weeks.
Not in the mood to pickle? Check out three more ways to use up this summer’s cucumber bounty.
Simple Bread-and-Butter Pickles Makes 3 to 4 pints
3 cucumbers, sliced into ¼- to ½-inch rounds
3 Tbsp. Kosher salt
1¼ cup white sugar
½ tsp. turmeric
3 Tbsp. pickling spice
1¾ cup cider vinegar
• Place the sliced cucumbers in a glass or plastic bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Let them stand for 3 hours, then rinse off the salt in cold water and drain well.
• Combine the sugar, turmeric, pickling spice and vinegar in a pot over medium-high heat. Bring it to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar.
• Add the drained cucumbers to the pickling liquid and heat to just boiling.
• Meanwhile, fill 3 to 4 16-ounce Mason jars with boiling water to sterilize them, then pour out the water.
• Carefully transfer the pickles and liquid into the hot, sterile jars and seal. Let them cool to room temperature before refrigerating. Pickles will keep for 3 weeks refrigerated.
This article appears in September 2013.