Bread & Butter Pickles

What a day!! I just sat down for the first time that I can remember, with no reason to get up again. I spent the day in the kitchen working on a few projects, but my main one was making pickles. I just ordered a case of pickling cucumbers from my local health food cooperative. Sadly I do not have my own garden.

I started out my day by trying out a new muffin recipe, banana chocolate chip. This recipe was gluten free, full of good fats and very lower sugar. I was pretty happy with the results, but I think I’ll play around with it a bit more. I also made a crustless quiche. It has been an eternity since I have made a quiche. I used to make these things by the bazillions, I could make them in my sleep. But along came 4 kids and life got busy, and somehow quiche didn’t fit in. Sad, but true. I think it’s high time to encourage quiche eating in my home. Such a nourishing a frugal meal, good for breakfast. lunch or dinner. Next up, I made liver for dinner, for the first time solo. I am happy to say, my kids ate it up. I told them it was steak, yep I sure did! I am so thrilled I finally got brave enough to try it. I had to talk myself into it for months. Now I hope to make it often, as it is so highly nourishing and VERY affordable. I picked up my grass fed beef liver at my local Farmer’s Market for just $2.50 per pound. I personally did not LOVE the liver. I think perhaps I cooked it a bit too long. I didn’t mind it though, especially with all the onions along with each bite. I felt rather elated and somewhat euphoric, wonder if it was all the amazing vitamins I had just ate. Anyway, on to the pickles…….

I really wanted to make lacto-fermented bread and butter pickles, but couldn’t find a recipe anywhere, until my friend reminded me of the one in ‘Eat Fat, Lose Fat‘. After slicing and soaking the cucumbers in ice cold water in the fridge all day, I jarred them up and covered them with the following brine;

Bread & Butter Pickles

7 cups thinly sliced pickling cucumbers

1 cup sliced mild onion

1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 10 lemons, make sure you zest those lemons first and freeze the zest for later use in other recipes)

1/3 cup  whey

1 cup honey or maple syrup (I used honey, more affordable

3 Tablespoons sea salt

1 to 2 tablespoons whole celery seeds

2 teaspoons turmeric ( I skipped this)

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

Soak the cucumber slices in a large bowl of ice water in the refrigerator for several hours up to all day long.

In a large bowl, mix cucumbers with onion and place in 2 quart sized, wide-mouthed mason jars, pressing down lightly with a pounder. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over cucumbers, adding more water if necessary to cover. Keep the top of the liquid one inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 2 days before transferring to the refrigerator.

I actually tweaked this a bit, to make it stretch to 3 1/2 quarts of pickles. I tasted the brine and found it to be really yummy. I can’t wait to try these pickles. Hopefully, I can put some by for later in the year. I also made 6 more quarts of sour pickles as well. We could easily go through a half gallon of pickles a week, so we shall see how long I can make these last. Whatever shall I ferment next??

Note- These pickles lasted a long time and were still crunchy over 6 months later!

I am contributing this post to ‘Two for Tuesdays‘ over at A Moderate Life!