It’s a pickle

Home canning is still a happening trend

When I was a kid, July was time to break out the Mason jars and start slicing cucumbers. Heat be darned, it was pickling time! My mom is old-school Texan. She spent most of her Summers in Olney, Texas with her grandmother. The days were filled with garden tending and food preserving.

Mom was determined to pass this tradition along to her city-dwelling daughter. Most years we raised our own cucumbers in the backyard. If that didn’t work out, we would head to the farmer’s market and pick up a bushel or more. (Because, by golly, if we’re going to make pickles, we’re going to be stocked up for the rest of the year!)

My aunt, my mom and I would spend an entire sweltering day creating Bread ‘n’ Butter pickles. Huge pots of water boiled on the stove to sterilize the jars, rings and seals. Piles of sliced cucumbers seemed to be everywhere. The whole house smelled of the pickling brine.

It was definitely worth the effort. I’ve yet to find a mass-produced Bread ‘n’ Butter pickle that rivals our recipe.

Apparently I’m not the only person with fond memories of homemade delicacies. Pickling and preserving recipes are popping up on popular social-media sites, like Pinterest. It makes sense, really, with so many people vegetable gardening these days. You’ve got to save some of the bounty!

Which reminds me…I better go by Mom’s house tonight. See if we can un-earth the old recipe. I think another pickle-making conclave is in order. Just for old time’s sake.

UPDATE: Found the recipe! Head over to our Recipe Exchange for the how-to!

Diva cucumber, photo by All-America Selections