Salmon Cabin

more pickles

Made my second big batch of dill pickles this summer. This time I tried a different brine formula-- 3 cups water, 3 cups vinegar, 1/3 cup salt. No fresh dill this time but 1 tablespoon dill seed per jar. I'm not sure why I altered my recipe since the last batch I made was so delicious, but can't help experimenting.

bread and butter pickles

I'm drowning in vegetables! I can't keep up with the bounty from my garden right now. Lots of harvesting and cooking. Today's project was bread and butter pickles. I've always made dill pickles so going sweet was a new departure for me. I actually ended up using a recipe from the latest issue of Cooking Light magazine, not because I needed a light version of pickles (!) but simply because I think their recipes are always very well-tested and produce consistently good results. This was no exception.

Cooking Light's Bread & Butter Pickles

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: about 1/4 cup drained pickles)

Ingredients:

• 5 1/2  cups  thinly sliced pickling cucumbers (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  kosher salt
• 1  cup  thinly sliced onion
• 1  cup  sugar
• 1  cup  white vinegar
• 1/2  cup  cider vinegar
• 1/4  cup  packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  mustard seeds
• 1/2  teaspoon  celery seeds
• 1/8  teaspoon  turmeric

Preparation:

1. Combine cucumbers and salt in a large bowl; cover and chill 1 1/2 hours. Drain; rinse cucumbers under cold water. Drain; return cucumbers to bowl. Add onion to bowl.

2. Combine sugar and remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour hot vinegar mixture over cucumber mixture; let stand at room temperature 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

Mark Scarbrough, Cooking Light, AUGUST 2008