Cucumbers for Bread & Butter Pickles & Recipe needed ?

[Gary350]

What type cucumber seeds should I grow for Bread & Butter Pickles?

I have always wanted to make Bread & Butter pickles so I guess I will do it this year. When I was in grade school Grandmother made the best bread & butter pickles. She won 1st prize at the country fair several times. She said, I have to grow a certain type cucumber to make good pickles.

I have no clue what type cucumber that is?

I remember she picked cucumbers early every morning they had to be the exact size I don't know what size that is?

I also remember Grandmother saying, after measuring the length of each cucumber then picking it and slicing it 50% have to be thrown away because seeds inside are too large or too small.

She made pickles in a 10 gallon stone crock in the kitchen, it set in the kitchen for a whole month. Then she put them in jars.

I was in grade school and never saw how pickles were made but I remember how the whole house smelled like pickles for a month every summer and how good they tasted.

How many plants to I need?

How many cucumbers do I need for about 10 pints and 10 quart jars of pickles?

Who is making Bread & Butter Pickles with a good proven recipe?

[Vanisle_BC]

We grow 'Chicago' cukes for pickling. Size depends on when you pick but they get to about 4" long and 1-1.5"
diameter. I usually grow 4 plants, inexpertly. My wife makes bread & butter pickles with them, also "pail pickles" and gets 3-4 quarts total.

Pail pickles taste similar to B&B but it's a different recipe and they're done in the fridge, not canned.

[pepperhead212]

I use any cucumbers for B&B pickles. I grow County Fair, because anything else gets bacterial wilt in my area. You don't really need a pickling cucumber, since they are sliced. I'll look for my recipe when I go upstairs later. It's the one from James Beard's American Cookery, though I always add more onion slices - my favorite part of B&B pickles!

[gumbo2176]

A search in any local Home Depot, Lowes or nursery will likely lead to several varieties of "Pickling Cucumber" seed packets. I'll plant 2 trellises of cucumbers, one for 'slicing' cucumbers and one for 'pickling' cucumbers. The pickling cucumbers, when picked at the right time, have very small seeds and no need to waste 50% of the fruit due to too large seeds. However, if they get overlooked in the foliage, they will get somewhat longer but much fatter and that is when the seeds really get big.

I'll also use slicing cucumbers if need be to finish off a batch of pickles, but will pick them long before they get their full length of 8 or more inches.

My recipe calls for slicing and salting the cucumbers and letting them sit for a while to draw some of the water out of them, drain and rinse and then pack into jars. While they are going through this process is when I make my brine to pour over them when they've been rinsed and the jars packed. There are many "Bread & Butter" brine recipes on the net to choose from. Try some and adjust to your taste and be sure to write it down for future use as far as proportions, spices, etc. Noting worse than hitting on a winner recipe and not remembering how it got there.

[Gary350]

I have pickle cucumber seeds planted and 5 plants have come grow. How many plant do you think I should grow?

I remember Grandmother saying, there needs to be a lot of cucumbers get ripe all at the same time to have enough to work with they can't be laying around for a week waiting for more cucumbers to get ripe.

The recipe I have makes 3 pint jars of sliced pickles. I am guessing it will take 8 or 9 sliced cucumber per jar recipe says pick 4" long cucumbers.

I only planted 6 seeds maybe I should plant 6 more.

[gumbo2176]

Every spring I plant two 12 ft. long trellises with plants about 4 inches apart when thinned. One trellis has pickling cucumbers and the other has slicing cucumbers. I make Bread & Butter and Dill pickles with the pickling cucumbers and the slicers are used in salads. Of course I produce more than I normally need so a lot of them are given out to family, friends and neighbors.

I would say you need more plants and would shoot for at least a dozen if you have room.

[Gary350]

I decided I want my Bread & Butter pickle recipe to match factory made pickles close as possible these are so good. There are 100s of book recipes & online recipes some have several different amounts of sugar and others have several different amounts of vinegar. I want my recipe to be as close to exact as possible so a simple high school chemistry class experiment is in order.

First I will test for acid using PH paper. Tests shows PH 4. When I mix a measured amount of water with a measured amount of vinegar and the mixture = PH 4 I will know it is correct plus I will know how much water and vinegar I used to = PH 4 to write down a recipe on paper.

Second I used my wine making hydrometer to test for sugar I get a reading of 1.118 on the sugar scale. When adding sugar to the vinegar + water mix when hydrometer reads 1.118 I know it is correct. I will also know how much sugar I added to a measured amount of liquid to write down a recipe on paper.

I could mix this up today to learn my recipe mixture but then I wasted vinegar and sugar unless I keep it in a container for 2 months until cucumber are ripe so I will wait.

Herb flavor mixture is going to be a guess. I will have to try a recipe to see how it tastes. When pickle making day arrives I will compare my mixture to factory mixture to see how it tastes. I might be able to correct it to match factory pickles. I hope a have a good recipe so there is no guess work.

[!potatoes!]

keep in mind that salt will affect your hydrometer reading, too. the number you're getting for the factory pickles will reflect a combination of salt and sugar. both change the liquid's density, which is what the hydrometer measures.