Sweet Pickles: Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 dozen 3-inch cucumbers
• ½ cup pickling salt
• 3-¼ cups apple cider vinegar, divided
• 2-⅛ quarts water, divided
• 6 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons whole cloves
• 2 tablespoons pickling spices

Instructions

• Put 2 dozen 3-inch cucumbers, freshly picked, in a crock or a jar. A crock can be anything from an unchipped enamel crock to a big glass jar that supermarkets buy their pickles in. Check out our cucumber plant page to find out how to grow your own cucumbers.

• Cover with a brine of ½ cup pickling salt, ¼ cup vinegar, and 2 quarts water.

• Weight down the cucumbers (a plate with a canning jar full of water on top of it will do nicely), and cover the crock.

• The fermentation of the cucumbers will cause a white, scummy substance to form on top of the brine. Every day for 2 weeks, check on your cucumbers and just skim the scum off if it is present.

• After 2 weeks, drain, cut into chunks, and let them stand for 24 hours in cold water, and then rinse.

• Combine 3 cups vinegar with 6 cups of sugar and ½ cup (⅛ quart) water. Tie 2 tablespoons each whole cloves and mixed pickling spices in cheesecloth, add to vinegar solution, and bring to a boil. Pour over cucumbers and let stand for 24 hours. Drain, reheat vinegar solution, and repeat process 4 times (this is only a 5-minute task each day).

• Remove spices and pack pickles in sterile jars. Bring vinegar solution to a boil and pour over pickles. Seal and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. 

Now you have tasty sweet pickles to enjoy all summer long! For a simpler sweet pickle recipe, see our Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe, and for more delicious pickled snacks, check out our pickling tips and recipes. 

Not in the mood for sweet pickles? Check out our page on how to make dill pickles. And if these recipes are a bit too complicated, try your hand at our easiest pickle recipe.