Monday, July 20, 2009

Bread & Butter Pickles


Homemade Bread & Butter Pickles


Last Friday's visit to our local organic farm store netted me about 4 1/2 pounds of cucumbers. I chose small ones with pickling in mind.

I like making these bread & butter pickles, but my own garden cucumbers are a long way from producing so far this year. Seems like my summer crops all got delayed for some reason. Weeds, probably. I feel confident that I will have my own cukes this summer, but it will be awhile yet. So I took advantage of the fresh organic cukes I found in the farm store this week and made some pickles yesterday.

Last August I was lucky enough to have a large crop of cucumbers in my garden, so I turned 6 1/2 pounds of them into bread & butter pickles

Maybe next month I can make another batch from my own garden, but at least for now, we have 5 new pints of freshly made B&B sweet pickles!



© Copyright 2009 Mountain Harvest Basket

12 comments:

Hardware Bob said...

Yummy, let me at them, they will be totally gone in one sitting.

Aging is not required. ♥♥

CaliforniaGrammy said...

My favorite of all pickles! Yummo!

After reading Hardward Bob's comment, let's hope for a nice large crop from your garden to add to the stash!

Danni said...

Mmmm...bread & butter pickles! I made these for the first time last year and my family DEVOURED them. This year, I'll actually get to make some with my own pickling cucumbers - if I ever get enough at one time. Right now, my bushes are giving me one every week or so...just one. Hardly enough to pickle. Except for that monster I got the other day, though. lol

I really need to learn how to can. One new thing each year, right? Last year I made pickles, maybe this year I'll can some pickles! :-)

Things must be busy for you right now, we haven't heard much from you lately. Everything ok?

Farmer Jen said...

Hi Bob,
I am glad you like my homemade pickles. You will get to eat some. Some.

Unfortunately, for all of us, including pickles, aging is required.


Hi CA Grammy,
I like all pickled cucumbers, both sweet and sour, but these are my favorite to eat and to make. I am optimistic about my garden cucumber crop. Some years I get a lot, some not so much.


Hi Danni,
Your cukes looked great in your last blog post I read. Hopefully you will collect enough for a batch of pickles. Canning them is work, but fun work. That way you can enjoy your pickle harvest all year round.

Yes, I have been very busy for the past few months! That's an understatement actually. But I am still here posting in my blog, although my posts seem to be shorter than they used to be. I read all of my favorite blogs, including yours, as soon as I see a new post appear in my reader. Most of the time I leave comments.

I am OK, just busy and tired most of the time. I keep taking on new projects, as is my nature. Thanks for asking and checking on me. I do appreciate that.

Farmer Jen said...

Danni,
When I first started canning I read and printed out everything in this USDA website canning guide:

http://foodsafety.psu.edu/canningguide.html

I was concerned about canning at higher elevations since my home is at 3000ft. This guide really helped educate me and made me feel much more confident. I still use their guide today. Have fun!

Knit Witch said...

I canned some pickles this week too!! I made a sweetish dill with some fresh dill out of the garden. Bread and Butter will be next!! Our cukes are really slow too - we bought ours at the local farmer's market. I'm going for a bunch of cukes and corn tomorrow - I LOVE freshly canned corn in our winter soups!!

frugalmom said...

Mmmmm...I love bread and butter pickles, too. We have been making dill pickles by the quart around here. But just refrigerator ones. Still tasty, just harder to store! This new pickling variety that we are growing this year is giving us a ton of cucumbers. I wonder if it is a big hit all at once tho...and then no more...I may need to make a consecutive planting.

Enjoy your pickles, Jen. And Im sure before you know it your plants will take off and youll have bushels of cukes!

Karine said...

I love pickles! And yours looks great!

Renaissance said...

Oh these do look good.

Erica said...

Yummy! I made 7 pints of zucchini pickles last week also (basically the same thing only made with zucchinis). They are my families favorite pickles!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Mmmm! I can taste 'em already!

Oh! And thanks for the comment over at my blog. I really appreciate the peaches with skin left on tip. I will be trying that this weekend. THANKS! :D

~Lisa

Farmer Jen said...

Hi Brittany,
I would love your recipe for those dill pickles. They sound good.

Hi Marcee,
What variety of pickling cukes are you growing this year? Mine are Northern Pickling cucumbers. Some years they are bountiful, others, not so much.

Hi Karine,
Thank you for the pickle praise and for leaving a comment on my blog. Please come back often.

Hi Re,
They are tasty. Thank you for your praise of my pickling. And thank you for visiting my blog.

Hi Erica,
One year when I got tons of zukes but no cukes, I substituted the squash in my pickle recipe. Yes, they are good. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment.

Hi Lisa,
I enjoy peaches with the tart skins, but not everyone does. When I puree them in the blender with the skins on, the skins pretty much disappear into the puree and just leave a nice tartness that I like. I use them that way in smoothies all the time.