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July 26, 2008


Bread and Butter Pickles
I love reading and fixing old fashioned recpies that are tried and true. I work part time as a nurse, in a nursing home. A resident there shared her refrigerator B&B pickle recipie with me , saying, " I couldn't keep enough made for my family".

Slice up enough pickling cucumbers to fill a gallon jar....3 onions sliced ..4 cups sugar ....4 cups vinegar... 1/3 cup plain salt...1 1/2 tsp each turmeric, mustard seed and celery seed ... Combine sugar and vinegar saucepan over low heat to dissolve sugar. Add spices. Firmly pack sliced cucumbers and onions in jar , add liquid and spices, seal and refrigerate.These bread and butter pickles are a wonderful little side dish to set out with just about any meal, or adding them to sandwiches. I canned mine, processing them with pressure cooker, so there was a lot of shrinkage.Also I used pickling spice . (I make salads, using these kind of pickles chopped up and juice)
This am I got up early and found my dh had picked the cucumbers last evening while I was at work...had them all clean and ready for me to slice today....now whay didn't I think to ask him to slice them too??? ( guess I had not better push my luck huh? ) For those of you that know Bob, he is not a kitchen/garden type of guy.. so this was a good thing to discover, having them all ready to slice. My electric meat slicer decided to die this am, so I sliced them the old fashioned way, and have them in the refrigerator for the next step...LOTS of them!

Incidently, Betty( the lady that shared her recipie with me) wants me to bring her some when they are ready...said they are ready to eat the next day!...(I guess she is hungry for B & B pickles..LOL ) I have enjoyed talking to the residents at the nursing home I work...they have so much to offer those that take the time to listen, and are such accomplished people with remarkable histories.

Here is a cute story to share that happened last night while I was helping Elvira to phone her daughter. Elvira had a stroke but is quick witted and fiesty. She got a bit confused and said she needed to get off of the bus ( she meant her wheel chair) so she could call her daughter. I said, You meant to say your wheel chair didn't you? ...and she laughed saying, " Well I sure haven't lost my imagination, have I! " What a lady!

4 comments:

  1. Aren't those people dear? I miss that part of my not working at the Inn of Medina the most. They have the most interesting life storys. Sometimes I don't know until they die and do up the obit on them. Just mentioning things brings up such great memories at times. Have the try the pickles. Doesn't seem they should be ready that fast. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Karen...It is all I can do to hold back the lump in my throat I get when I talk to these dear people. I reminds me of mom and dad and the hurdles they had to go over as they got older....and how gracefully they did so...as Elvira said...her imagination is doing well!

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  3. Hi Cindy - when I worked in nursing homes peopel would say - isn't that depressing? Oh what they have missed out on because the avoided the wonderful people who just happen to live in one! Your pickles look yummy! My mom used to make those.

    hugs, Linda

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  4. Oh my grandma used to can THE best bread and butter pickles!! Oh how I miss those! After she passed away, no one else did canning in our family.

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