My mother has been making lots of pickles so one day last week I went to see what she was doing. Actually it want more like “Don’t do another thing until I get my camera out.”

 

She had a bunch of pickling cucumber sliced up sitting on the counter.

 

In a pot she had the pickling liquid ready.

 

in another pot the jars were boiling or nearly boiling . 

 

She got out the hot jars to drain.

 

She then laid the cucumber slices in the jar.

 

She said slicing them long ways is much easier to pack in. 

 

To get as many slices in as possible she uses a butter knife to make more room 

 

and slides more slices down the side of the jar.

 

She tops each jar with sliced onions. Whatever’s on the top gets soggy and mushy over time so it might as well be a few onion slices instead of the ends on every cucumber slice.

 

She then pours the hot pickling liquid over the cucumbers and onions

 

until they are full, all the way to the top.

 

She wipes off any stickiness and put the lids and bands on.

 

Then it’s bath time! Into the hot water they go

 

for 10 minutes.

 

All done. Zesty bread and butter pickles.

 

Zesty bread and butter pickles

Cucumber preparation

• 6 cups sliced cucumbers
• 1 Tbsp sea salt
• 2-3 cups water to cover

In a bowl add cucumbers, salt and water, mix and let sit overnight.

Pickling liquid

• 3 cups white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup pickling spice
• 1 Tbsp prepared horse radish mustard
• 1 Tbsp celery seeds
• 1 Tbsp turmeric
• 2 Tbsp ground ginger

In a pot add vinegar, sugar, pickling spice, horseradish, celery seeds, turmeric, and ginger; simmer 5 minutes stir occasionally.

Meanwhile

prepare canner jars and lids.

Drain and rinse cucumbers several times.

 

Remove jars from hot water, keep lids in a bowl of warm water till you’re ready for them

Filling the jars

• a slice of fresh ginger per jar
• 1 onion peeled and sliced

place ginger slices in bottoms of jars,

Then pack cucumbers into jars tightly, pushing them aside gently with a butterknife to make more room, leaving some headspace –choose your cucumbers accordingly so they don’t stick up too far; then cover with onion slices, allowing about 1/2 inch final  headspace;

ladle hot pickling liquid into jars;

wipe rims  of jars, cover with lid, screw on bands fingertight

place jars in canner

bring to boil and process for 10 minutes

 

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