Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles

Makes 4 pint jars

Ever wonder if you could make your own pickles at home. It's actually easier than you think. Most store bought pickles are laced with things that you don't really want in there, like high fructose corn syrup, Polysorbate 80 and Yellow #5. I prefer to use ingredients in my food that don't have a number after their name. These pickles were pretty easy and came out pretty delicious.

Here is what you will need to make your homemade pickles:

Equipment:

4 pint jars w/ lids
large pot

Ingredients:

4 medium cucumbers, scrubbed and sliced 1/8 inch thick

1/2 cup onion, sliced

1/2 cup kosher salt

4 cloves garlic, peeled

3 tsp Pickling spice
1 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

2 cups hot water

1 cup sugar

Watch this video before you make the pickles. It's helpful and the guy is hilarious:

fyi, that's not me...but this guy knows what he's doing. He's a "blue ribbon prize-winning pickle maker." I didn't have a canning kit; but tongs, a ladle and an extra towel sufficed for every thing I needed to make these pickles.

Add salt to the cucumbers and onions to remove water. This helps make them crisp and crunchy.

Simmering cucumbers in vinegar and spices

Jars loaded with cucumber 1/2 inch below the top, looking good already

Simmering jars for 15 minutes to seal for prolonged storage. Never let jars touch the bottom of the pot to prevent breakage. Use a rack or kitchen towel to act as a barrier between the pot and the jars.

B&B Pickles

Ingredients

4 medium cucumbers, scrubbed and sliced 1/8 inch thick

1/2 cup onion, sliced

1/2 cup kosher salt

4 cloves garlic, peeled

3 tsp Pickling spice
1 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

2 cups hot water

1 cup sugar

Directions

Run your jars and lids through the dishwasher.

Combine cucumbers and onions in a large colander. Toss with salt and let drain over a bowl for 2-3 hours and cover them with a clean kitchen towel and a tray of ice which help keep them crisp. Combine remaining ingredients in a large pot(3-4 qts) and bring to a boil. Rinse salt off the cucumbers then add them to the pot and cook for 8 minutes over medium high heat keeping the temperature just below boiling.

Line jars up in a row on a towel to prevent spillage(turmeric will stain). Ladle the cucumber, vinegar, spice mixture into each jar. Do your best to get a piece of garlic in each jar. Fill to 1/2 inch below the top of the jar. Seal jars.

At this point if you're planning on eating your pickles in the next 3 weeks, you can let your jars cool then put them in the fridge. Further processing will allow you to keep the pickles for up to a year.

To process jars, bring a large pot of water to a simmer. Place a rack or kitchen towel at the bottom of the pot to prevent jars from touching bottom. Add jars and make sure they're covered with an inch of water. Heat for an additional 10 minutes(15 minutes if you live above 5,000 ft). Remove jars and allow to cool.

Store in a cool, dark place for up to a year. They will taste good in just a few hours but will taste even better in a day or two. Once opened, they should be refrigerated and will keep for about another 3 months.

Notes: I recommend watching a video tutorial on how to do this on YouTube.