Bread And Butter Pickles

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 50
• 25 cucumbers, thinly sliced
• 6 onions, thinly sliced
• 2 green bell peppers, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 cup salt
• 3 cups cider vinegar
• 5 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons mustard seeds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons celery seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric

Recipe

• 1 1. in a large bowl or a tub, mix together cucumbers, onions, green bell peppers, garlic and salt. allow to stand approximately 3 hours.
• 2 2. in a large saucepan, mix the cider vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, whole cloves and turmeric. bring to a boil.
• 3 3. drain liquid from the cucumber mixture. stir the mixture into the boiling vinegar mixture. remove from heat shortly before the combined mixtures return to boil.
• 4 4. transfer to sterile containers. seal and chill in the refrigerator until serving.
• 5 my note: i says use a large bowl they should have said a tub -- i used three large bowls and then poured it all into a tub to mix the cukes with the salt. i also covered the salted cukes with ice and a loose cover (i think the ice gives the pickles a little more crispness) i made 35 pints in july 2009 and gave them as gifts, as well as ate them, they were a hit. they were too salty after much rinsing so i cut back the salt to about half after the first batch. i started making double the recipe. i mixed them in a large cooler to have enough room to blend everything real well. i added 2 red and 2 orange peppers to the recipe to give it color and just chopped it instead of diced because the peppers are just as good to eat. i put ice on the top while the mix stands so the cukes and peppers get crisp. the cooler helps keep the ice from melting too fast. i packed the pint jars with the cukes then ladled in the brine, this works fine. i put them in a 10 minute 'bath' since i made so many and wanted them to last. i opened the last jar a few weeks ago and it is just as fresh as when i made them last year. i just finished making 45 pints today. they're ready to eat right away. fantastic pickles! pickle tidbit: when storing pickles, turn them upside down, so that the top pickles are soaking in the brine, since the pickles will rise. then as you eat them the bottom soaks. i think the recipe should read 25 pickling cukes. some folks who never made pickles before used regular cukes which were to big and made them come out soggy. one thing i would change is after draining the brine, rinse the vegetable mix and drain again. it was a bit too salty for some. if you make them again, and i will definitely do this.