Bread and Butter Pickles

I came home from last night's produce auction with two bushels of corn and a half bushel of cukes for $25.  They were the only box of smaller sized cukes, so I was thrilled to get them.

That meant first thing this morning, I was slicing them up for pickles.  Aunt Audrey's Bread and Butter recipe is my favorite, so after a quick trip for vinegar (how could I be out of vinegar in the middle of canning season?) we were in Business.

 I had enough for a triple batch.  In each bowl, there are 4 quarts of sliced cukes, a sliced onion, a sliced green pepper, sliced red pepper (not really, I was short on red bells!), 3 cloves of garlic, and 1/3 cup of salt... along with ice.  Lots of ice mixed in.  Let them hang out for 3 hours.  This process draws the water out of the veggies so they won't turn into soggy pickles.

 Then, combine 3 cups vinegar, 5 cups sugar, 1 1/2 tsp tumeric, 1 1/2 tsp celery seeds, and 2 TBL mustard seeds.  Pour over cucumber mixture in a large pot and heat to boiling.  Transfer to jars, add 1/4 tsp of pickle crisp, and BWB for 10 minutes.

Yummy goodness.  The 1/2 bushel yielded 7 quarts and 6 pints.