Bread and Butter Pickles

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to taste Mrs. Georgia Anderson’s bread and butter pickles then you’ve been lucky enough. I was at work one day and her daughter, a dear friend and colleague, had a jar of her Mama’s pickles she was passing around. Seriously, folks, I’ve tasted plenty of pickles in my time and made more than my share but I have never in my life had a pickle this good. It has won every pickle completion in which it was entered. This year it won the “sweet pickle” category at the Chapel Hill Farmer’s Market
Now let me explain about her daughter Judy. She is one of the best, most caring and professional nurses I have ever met and working with her was a privilege. Clearly, her mother meant business and raised her right. Judy and I realized we were kindred spirits about the time she passed around the pickles and we discovered we could both touch our nose with our tongue, but that’s another story.
Mrs. Anderson was from Burkesville, Ky. She was about 90 when I met Judy and still digging her own potatoes and putting up these pickles. Honestly, I thought I heard angels sing when I took that first bite. She was also a generous and kind soul, as evidenced by the care with which she raised her daughter and her willingness to share her pickle recipe with a complete stranger.
To honor Georgia’s memory and for the love of the craft I am now passing the recipe on to those who, like me, can never get enough of a good pickle.

Bread and Butter Pickles
1 gallon medium sized pickling cucumber, ¼ inch slices
8 small to medium onions, sliced thinly
6 red or green bell peppers cut into 1/4inch strips
½ cup coarse pickling salt
1 quart cracked ice
Place cucumbers, onions and peppers in a large bowl with salt, mix well and cover with ice,
Let stand about 3 hours, drain well
For the Brine
5 cups sugar
5 cups white vinegar, 5% acidity
1½ tsp turmeric
2 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed
½ tsp whole cloves
Combine above ingredients in a large stock pot or pan; bring to a full, rolling boil. Quickly add the cucumber mixture and stir in well. When it begins to boil remove from heat and fill sterilized, pint jars leaving ½ inch head space.
Wipe down the rim and threads of jars well, place lids to fingertip tightness and process in a *water bath for 15 min.
Makes 10-12 pints
• Please refer to the “Ball Bluebook for Home Canning,” or the “national center for home food preservation” website to review safe water bath canning technique