See Jane Pickle

I love bread and butter pickles. The problem with being a green eater is that I've yet to find any bread and butter pickles that don't have high fructose corn syrup as their second ingredient. So, in an explosion of curiosity, I decided to make them.

I tried two different methods for refrigerator pickles, using a base of pickling cucumbers from the local market.

Version One: From a Packet
This used a package of Ball's Bread and Butter Pickle mix. Just follow the directions on the back.

The verdict: These were rather sour for bread and butter pickles. Excellent texture, though, and very easy to make.

Version Two: Microwave Bread and Butter Pickles

1 large cucumber, sliced

1 teaspoon salt

1 onion, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1. In a medium microwave safe bowl, mix cucumber, salt, onion, mustard seeds, white sugar, distilled white vinegar, celery seed and turmeric.
2. Microwave on high 7 to 8 minutes, stirring twice, until cucumbers are tender and onion is translucent.
3. Transfer to sterile containers. Seal and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

Yummy. The onion  was too small and really annoying, though. I don't like pickled onion and I got a lot from this which I have to pick off my pickles. I substituted celery salt for the celery seed/salt, and it turned out pretty yummy. The texture is more floppy than the Ball's recipe, but the flavor more than makes up for the difference.

I have a friend, Kate, whose family cans and preserves vegetables and fruit by the gallon when it's inexpensive. She's going to teach me how to oven can - which is faster and easier than water bath canning and lets you make larger batches at a time. I'll be sure to share how it goes!