In the Kitchen: Dixie's Bread & Butter Pickles

One of the stories my mother looooves to tell about my childhood is about how every year in her canning she would do cases of these pickles and every year we would eat every jar. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have hear her say it. And for all the times she's said it, I really have no recollection of them specifically. Just her canning. A LOT.

This year a nice Hutterite man stopped by my house and wanted to sell me some pickling cucumbers. So I agreed (although Regan told me to be careful... hahaha). So when I called my mom she was SURE I had to make these. After all "every year in her canning she would do cases of these pickles and every year we would eat every jar."....


Dixie's (My Mommma's) Bread and Butter Pickles
Ingredients:
• 4 pounds pickling cucumbers
• 1 large onion, quartered, sliced about 1/4-inch thickness
• 1/3 cup kosher salt
• 3 cups cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds, or use half pickling spices
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional

Preparation:
Wash cucumbers and cut off the ends. Slice crosswise into 1/8-inch slices. Toss in a large bowl with the salt and onion slices;

Cover with about 4 to 6 cups of ice cubes. Cover and let stand for 4 hours or refrigerate overnight.

Prepare the boiling water bath. Add water to a large caner with rack and heat to about 180°. The water should be high enough to be at least 1 inch above the filled jars. I usually fill it about halfway and I keep a kettle or saucepan of water boiling on another burner to add to the canner as needed. Wash jars thoroughly and heat water in a small saucepan; put the lids in the saucepan and bring almost to the boil; lower heat to very low to keep the lids hot.

Drain the cucumber mixture. In a large pot (nonreactive) over medium heat, combine the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

Add the drained cucumber mixture and bring to a boil. With a slotted spoon, loosely pack the vegetables in prepared jars.

Ladle the liquid into jars, dividing evenly among the jars.

With a clean damp cloth (I keep a little bowl or cup of the boiled water handy for this step), wipe away any drips around the rims of the jars then cover with 2-piece jar lids. A lid lifter comes in handy to get the flat lids out of the water, or you could use tongs. Adjust the screw on rings firmly but do not over-tighten. Place filled in the prepared boiling water bath, adding more hot water as needed to bring the water up to about 1 inch above the jars. Bring the water to a boil. Cover and continue boiling for 10 minutes. Lift the jars out of the water and place on a rack to cool.
Makes about 6 pints.


That's it. I did more than 6 pints :).
And now hopefully MY kids will eat them all and I will start telling THEM about how every year I made piles of these pickles and every year they ate them all up.