My eldest daughter has been asking me for the bread and butter pickles that I used to make during our pre-GAPS days. Those pickles predate any healthy living efforts we have made as they had OODLES of white death (oops, I meant white sugar). These days, things like that are out of the question as we are all feeling pretty darned good and wish to keep it that way… 🙂 So…imagine the happiness in the house when I came across this recipe in the Grit Country Skills Series issue of “Guide to Backyard Bees and Honey“…
Honeyed Bread and Butter Pickles (GAPS/SCD/GF)
4 1/2 pounds pickling cucumbers, sliced 1/4″ thick
2 pounds yellow onions (I used red, it’s what I had), peeled and sliced 1/4″ thick
1/4 c. non-iodized salt
2 c. honey
3 c. cider vinegar
2 tsp yellow mustard seed
1/4 tsp whole cloves
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp celery seed
Mix cucumbers and onions with salt. Let stand 6 hours.
Soak in water to cover for 1 hour; drain thoroughly. Set aside.
In small stainless steel or enamel saucepan, bring honey, vinegar and spices to a boil. Remove from heat and cover pan to keep contents hot.
Pack vegetables firmly into hot, sterilized pint jars, filling to 1/4″ from tops.
Add honey mixture, filling to 1/4: from tops. Wipe rims of jars; top with hot lids (I boil mine first – don’t even know why, my mother in law taught me to do it!). Screw on bands.
Place jars on rack in canning kettle of hot water. (I don’t have anything fancy, just a big black $5 Kmart special enamel kettle that allows for enough water to cover the jars…and truthfully, I don’t even have a rack!) Add water if needed to bring water level to 1″ above tops of jars. Bring water to a rolling boil, and boil for 15 minutes. Remove jars carefully and cool on wire rack (or a folded up dish towel works nicely too).
Just got done making these – I ended up with 9 pints total and had to make a second batch of the honey vinegar liquid to take care of the rest (the original recipe said 7 pints). My jars are popping, and that is a great sound! Aren’t they pretty???
This post was shared at Butter Believer’s Sunday School Blog Carnival; The Healthy Home Economist’s Monday Mania; The Morris Tribe’s Homesteader Blog Carnival; The Better Mom’s Mondays Link Up; The Prairie Homestead’s Homestead Barn Hop; Living with Food Allergies and Celiac Disease’s Made from Scratch Monday; Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesday; Simply Sugar and Gluten Free’s Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; Like a Mustard Seed’s Living Green Tuesdays; Cooking Traditional Foods Traditional Tuesdays; The Tasty Alternative’s Allergy Free Wednesdays; Simply Made Home’s Make a Move Monday; Frugally Sustainable’s Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways; Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesdays; GNOWFGLINS Simple Lives Thursday; The Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter; Real Food Freaks Freaky Friday; Too Many Jars in My Kitchen’s Fill Those Jars Friday; Our Little Coop’s Coop Hop; Vegetarian Mamma’s Gluten Free Friday;
Thanks so much for linking up to Make A Move Monday. Your pickles look great! (So does your blog!)
Thanks, and thanks for hosting! Glad I found you! 🙂
I love pickles! This looks very easy to do!! I’d love to have you come and link it up at our Gluten Free Fridays recipe party! We’d love to have you aboard! 🙂 http://vegetarianmamma.com/glutenfree-fridays-recipe-party-4/
Will do! Thanks for reading my post, and for the invite! 🙂
I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂 Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays recipe party! See you next Friday! Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
Thanks! I’ll be there!!! 🙂
Thank you for sharing with ‘Made From Scratch’ Monday. This is a wonderful recipe! I have never used honey in my canning recipes. I’m currently working on a ‘homesteading’ site which shares a lot of food prep and storage posts. One thing that I do differently than other recipes is use my yellow squash and zucchini for bread and butter pickles instead of my cucumbers. Cukes are quite as plentiful as my squash is, so I save them for making cucumber spears, sweet cucumber sandwich pickles, etc. I’m going to give this a try next year and see how it goes. I’m excited about the difference in taste, if there is one, and how my children like them. Thanks again for sharing. Have a great weekend!!
Thanks! I am really interested in trying this to see how this would work with beet pickles too…I’ve never canned with honey before either! Have a great weekend!
Homemade pickles-my kids will be all over this recipe! Thanks for sharing with us on Allergy-Free Wednesdays.
Thanks 🙂
I’ve never tried making bread and butter pickles. Those look really good!
Thanks for sharing this at Fill Those Jars Friday. Hope to see you again tomorrow!
Thanks! 🙂 I just posted on Fill Those Jars Friday! Have a great weekend!!!