Bread and Butter Refrigerator Pickles

Bread and butter pickles are the gateway pickle — sweet, tangy, a little turmeric-gold, and the reason a sandwich tastes finished. This is the refrigerator version: no canner, no pressure gauge, no fear. Cucumbers to pickles in a day, and they’ll keep a month in the fridge, though we’ve never once needed the month.

What you need

• 2 pounds cucumbers, sliced about ¼ inch thick
• 1 sweet onion, sliced thin
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1½ cups white vinegar (cider vinegar works too)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• ½ teaspoon turmeric — that’s where the gold comes from

How we do it

Toss the cucumber and onion slices with the salt in a big bowl, cover them with a tray of ice, and walk away for two hours. This pulls the water out so the pickles stay crisp instead of going limp in the jar — it’s the step that separates good from grocery-store. Drain them well and give them a quick rinse.

Bring the vinegar, sugar, and spices to a boil in a big pot, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the drained cucumbers and onions, and the second the pot comes back to the barest simmer — before anything actually cooks — pull it off the heat. You’re warming them through, not making relish.

Pack everything into clean jars, pour the hot brine over to cover, cap them, and let them cool on the counter before they go in the fridge. Tomorrow they’re good. Day three they’re right.

They go on burgers, next to grilled cheese, chopped into egg or tuna salad, and straight out of the jar standing in front of the open refrigerator, which is where most of ours go. If you’re a real canner and want to put up a season’s worth in a water bath instead, the recipe scales straight up — and so do we: message us about bulk cucumbers and we’ll quote you a price.

Photo: jeffreyw, Flickr, CC BY 2.0.