Family Chow Hall

Frozen Bread and Butter Pickles

June 2nd, 2006

For gardeners, summertime can be one of the busiest of the year, giving the holidays a run for their money. Serious gardeners are in their garden every day, hoeing, weeding, eliminating insects (if possible), and pampering their growing vegetables in many ways.

My mother is one of these gardeners. She loves to garden, backache or not, arthritis or not. Just try keeping her away from her plants. My mother-in-law, too can be found in her garden on most pleasant days.

Me… well… I certainly love harvesting the fruits (or vegetables) of the garden, and I LOVE cooking with them, freezing them, or canning them. But I’d prefer to let someone else do the weeding and cultivating. Volunteers are rather scarce, though, so I find myself out there anyway.

This year is the first in a long time that I have had a garden at all. Such as it is… it only consists of 4 tomato plants, 4 pepper plants, 3 hills of cucumbers, and a few herbs. Maybe next year I will expand it.

So far I have harvested a few cucumbers — enough to eat but not enough to can. I made a small recipe of Frozen Bread and Butter Pickles, which my husband and daughter gobbled up in just a couple of days. This recipe is perfect for the few cucumbers you pick when they are just ripening and for folks who don’t can and have a little extra space in their freezers.

Frozen Bread and Butter Pickles

7 c. thinly sliced cucumbers
1 c. thinly sliced onion
1 c. white vinegar
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
1 T. mustard seed or celery seed
1 T. salt
Several freezer containers (like you would use for jam or jelly)

Try to find cucumbers that are smaller than the ones you typically see in the store. When they get really large, there is a lot more water content and they won’t be as crispy.

Slice the onion and cucumber as thinly as possible and set aside. In a saucepan, combine all the other ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Make sure the sugar is dissolved before removing from the heat. Cool.

Place the cucumbers and onions in the freezer containers and pour a little syrup over each one. Freeze immediately.

My hubby likes to eat these when they are only partially thawed out. He compares them to a frozen treat. Maybe I should call them “Picklesicles.”

Enjoy!

Entry Filed under: Condiments, Mixed bag, Old-Fashioned Foods, Philosophy, Recipes, Side Dishes, Table talk, salads