The Daily Standard
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Impress family and friends alike by bringing homemade refrigerator bread and butter pickles to the next summer gathering.
CELINA - Homemade, fresh-from-the-garden pickles can turn an ordinary summer picnic into a mouth-watering spread of steaming hamburgers and hotdogs, sweet corn on the cob, juicy watermelons, potato or noodle salad and crisp beverages.
Snacking on a crunchy, satisfying pickle can serve as the perfect respite from the heat or provide a burst of energy after lounging at the pool all day.
Pickling vegetables may sound daunting, but it's one of the oldest methods of food preservation. There are two approaches to pickles, according to Chow Line, a service of the Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Fermented pickles are cucumbers pickled in lactic acid in a fermentation process that takes 3-4 weeks in a crock or other suitable container. Quick-process pickles are cucumbers pickled in acetic acid from vinegar in a process that takes just a few days.
The Daily Standard recently selected choice cucumbers and a lone red onion from the farmers market and whipped up its very own homemade refrigerator bread and butter pickles.
Because the newspaper made quick-process pickles, the briny veggies took about two days to develop. Foodies who want to take a stab at pickling vegetables should educate themselves about proper fermentation processes.
Like all great recipes, homemade pickles are completely customizable. The newspaper opted for a sweeter approach instead of the classic dill spear.
Embrace the challenge and get creative. Try preparing the cucumbers with a crinkle cutter to emulate a classic dinner bread and butter pickles. Adjust the brine depending on individual flavor profiles. For spicier pickles, try adding some peppercorn or crushed red pepper flakes. The newspaper decided not to stray from the classic flavor and let the pickle speak for itself. More importantly, don't forget to have fun.
This recipe from Brown Eyed Baker can be as complex or as simple as a foodie wishes.
Refrigerator pickles step by step.
Refrigerator bread and butter pickles:
5½ cups pickling cucumbers, sliced ¼-inch thick, about 1½ pounds
1½ tablespoons kosher salt
1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup white vinegar
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons mustard seeds
½ teaspoons celery seeds
⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
Combine cucumbers and salt in a large, shallow bowl and then cover and chill for 1½ hours. After, rinse the cucumbers throughly with cold water, drain and then toss the cucumbers with the onion in the bowl.
In a medium saucepan, bring the granulated sugar, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds and ground turmeric to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumbers and onions. Let it stand at room temperature for 1 hour and then cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Store the pickles in an airtight container in refrigerator up to one month.
Pickling vegetables may sound daunting, but it's one of the oldest methods of food preservation.
