If you like sweet pickles you'll love this recipe. I've been making these for several years now and I still get orders for them from family and friends. If you grow your own cucumbers you've probably got a bunch sitting on your counter and don't know what to do with them by now.

Get an empty gallon pickle jar or what ever kind you can find. It should be a glass one though. Clean it real good with hot soapy water as you would for caning. 

Gather enough cucumbers to fill the jar when they're sliced. Wash them good and slice them thin. Put them in the jar so you can see how many to slice packing them down as you go. When the jar is full dump them into a clean bowl, cover them with water and a 1/2 cup of salt, stir, and put them in the ice box for at least 8 hours. Stir them around again every couple of hours or when you think of it. Wash the jar out again with hot water.

Hint: Slice another cup of cucumbers and put them in the soaking bowl. Once they're soaked they soften a little and you will be able to pack more in the jar than you started with.

After the soaking is done and you're ready to process them do the following.

In a pot put 5 cups of white vinegar and 5 cups of sugar. Put the fire on low and dissolve the sugar by stirring. Never boil the vinegar. Then add the following:

1/2 tsp. Ground Turmeric
2 Tbs. Mustard Seed
1 Tsp. Celery Seed

Continue to heat for about 10 minutes, turn the fire off and let sit for about 30 minutes to cool. Stir every so often.

While the liquid is cooling drain the water from the cucumbers and rinse them a little to get the excess salt off of them. Pack the cucumbers in the gallon jar and put the jar in the sink. Pour the liquid (seeds and all) into the jar, put the cover on and shake it around. Let it sit on the counter for a few days. Shake the jar three or four times a day.

They're ready to eat after sitting for 2 days. You can now either put the gallon jar in the ice box, or, you can transfer the pickles to clean quart or pint jars. If you transfer them pour the liquid from the gallon jar to fill the smaller ones 1/2" from the top. Be sure the liquid covers the pickles. In any case they must remain refrigerated.

I've never tried "canning" them so I don't know if it would work. You should however clean whichever glass containers and covers you use with hot soapy water and rinse with hot water.

Bread-N-Butter Pickles go well with fresh sliced tomatoes on a sandwich.

Eat well, live well....

Jack