Still More Pickling

Amazingly the cucumbers are still going strong. Today I took 10 more off the vine! And it's October 10th! Considering the state of everything else - no tomatoes, very few potatoes, 4 pie pumpkins - at least the something is doing well. It's a darn good thing we don't have to survive through the winter on foods produced on the farm. We'd starve.

I love eating cucumbers raw with a little Lawrey's seasoned salt. But there is no way I'll eat all that we harvested before they start to soften. So I made pickles, again. This year I've made more pickled goods then ever before. Sweet pickled beets, dill zucchini relish, sweet relish, pickled green tomatoes, pickled whole cherry tomatoes and today bread-and-butter pickles. I've never made bread-and-butter before so I looked up recipes on Cooks.com (which is one of my go-to sites). Of course I had to adapt it slightly, because I have to adapt everything - I can't help it. Here is recipe.

Bread-and-Butter Pickles

Makes 6 pints

Ingredients

8 cups sliced cucumbers (1/8"-1/4" thick)

3 small onions, sliced

1/2 c pickling salt

2 c white vinegar

1 c apple cider vinegar

3 c water

1 1/2 t mustard seeds

1 t celery seed

1/2 t tumeric

1 1/2 c sugar

Directions

Place cucumbers and onions in a large glass bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pour cold water over until the cucumbers are covered. Let veggies sit for 2 hours. Drain and rinse.

In a large pot, bring remaining ingredients to boil, stirring frequently. Add cucumbers and onions. Simmer for 5 minutes. Pack sterilzed jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Add vinegar mixture to each, leaving 1/4" headspace. Secure lids and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Cool completely; all the lids should pop down. If any don't, use those jars within a couple weeks. Sealed jars will keep for up to 1 year.