lemon cucumbers = B&B Pickles

I had these five lemon cucumbers (there on the lower left) from my CSA haul last week and I couldn’t decide what to do with them. Dave doesn’t like cucumbers and five was too many for me to eat over a short length of time. He does love pickles though, so I turned them into bread & butter pickles and then proceeded to give three of the five jars away.

I am by no means an expert on canning, so once I came up with the recipe, I needed to do a Google search to find out just how long to process them. In doing so, I found THIS wonderful blog from a woman in Wisconsin who lives on a 10-acre farm and grows her own cucumbers – that she pickles. Her post on making pickles is fantastic, so if you have questions about the process or want super detailed instructions, be sure to check it out.

When I think of bread & butter pickles, I picture the crinkle-cut slices like those in the jar above. Hey, I have a crinkle cutter, so I dug it out and began using it on the cucumbers. It wasn’t quite sharp enough (it’s old and dull!) so I ended up cutting about half of the slices with the crinkle cutter and the other half with a chef’s knife.

Bread & Butter Lemon Cucumber Pickles

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
3/4 cup water
4 tablespoons kosher salt, divided
5 lemon cucumbers, ends trimmed off and then sliced
1 small or 1/2 medium red onion, peeled, thinly sliced, slices cut into thirds
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 small bunch fresh dill weed
1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon whole white peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon regular or black mustard seed
2 bay leaves, broken into large pieces

Equipment: five half-pint wide-mouth canning jars with seals and lids

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and submerge five half-pint wide-mouth canning jars in water, along with their respective seals and lids. Use tongs (click HERE for the tip to make tongs non-slip) to transfer to a folded-over kitchen towel. (The towel is needed to ensure that the jars don’t crack when they go from the boiling water to your cold countertop.)

In a medium non-reactive saucepan bring both kinds of vinegar, water, and 3 tablespoons of salt to a roiling boil.

Meanwhile, begin layering the sliced cucumbers, onion, garlic, fresh dill, the remaining 1 tablespoon of salt, and the spices evenly between the five jars.

Once the vinegar has boiled, transfer to a liquid measuring cup for easy pouring and pour over the cucumbers and spices to completely cover the contents of the jar, but also leave 1/2-inch head space.

Use a damp cloth to clean the rim of the jars and top with the seals and then tightly screw the lids onto the jars, hand tightening only.

For Refrigerated Pickles: Let come to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 1 day before eating. Use within 1 week.

For Canned Pickles: Use tongs to lower the jars into a large pot of boiling water, the water needs to cover the jars by at least 1-inch. Boil for 15 minutes and then use tongs to transfer to a folded-over kitchen towel.  Allow to come to room temperature before transferring to cupboard or refrigerator.

While I know that once the canning process is complete, the pickles should be able to be left out at room temperature in a cool dark place, I don’t fully trust my own canning skills.  I kept 2 jars for us and gave the other three away and told the recipients to keep them refrigerated. Go figure.

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