Old-Fashioned Bread and Butter Pickles
The name tells you how hard the times were: during the Depression, a cucumber-and-onion pickle sandwiched between two slices of buttered bread passed for lunch — and families like the Fannings, who first sold jars of them, made the name stick. Grannies kept a jar in the icebox door all summer long, and no burger, ham sandwich or plate of cold cuts was properly dressed without a few sweet-tangy slices.
The crunch — and it must crunch — comes from one unhurried step: salt the sliced cucumbers and onions and let them sit for a good two hours, ideally over ice. The salt pulls out the water that would otherwise turn them limp in the jar. Then the golden turmeric brine goes on hot, but here's the second rule: bring the vegetables just back to the boil and not a moment longer — actually cooking them is how crisp pickles die.
This is the refrigerator method, which is how we'd start you off: no canning kit, no fuss, and the jars keep for a good two months in the fridge (if they last the week). Wait a full day before you open one — the flavour needs 24 hours to get all the way through the slices.
Old-Fashioned Bread and Butter Pickles
Crisp cucumber & onion in a sweet-tangy turmeric brine — the salting trick keeps the crunch.
Ingredients
- For the pickles
- 1 kg small or pickling cucumbers, sliced ½ cm thick
- 2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp fine salt, plus a tray of ice cubes
- For the brine
- 400 ml cider vinegar
- 300 g granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1 tsp celery seeds and ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
Method
- Salt for crunch. Toss the cucumber and onion slices with the salt in a large bowl, scatter over the ice, and leave 2 hours. This draws out the water that would turn them limp — it's the crunch step, don't skip it.
- Rinse and drain. Tip away the liquid and ice, rinse the vegetables briefly under cold water, and drain very well.
- Make the brine. Bring the vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, turmeric & chilli flakes to the boil in a large pan, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Just to the boil. Add the drained vegetables and bring just back to the boil — the moment it bubbles, take it off the heat. Cooking them soft is how crisp pickles die.
- Jar and chill. Pack into 3 clean 500 ml jars, covering the slices completely with hot brine. Cool, lid, and refrigerate.
- Wait a day. Give them 24 hours in the fridge before opening — the flavour needs time to reach the middle of every slice. They keep 2 months refrigerated.
Slice the cucumbers on a crinkle cutter if you have one — not for looks alone: the ridges hold more brine on every slice, and that's the difference on a good ham sandwich.
Tips for crisp, bright pickles
Salt is the crunch
Two hours with salt and ice pulls out the water that would turn the slices limp. It feels fussy; it is everything.
Boil the brine, not the pickles
The vegetables go in hot brine only until it just returns to the boil. Cooked cucumbers make soft, sad pickles.
Wait 24 hours
Straight from the pan they taste of vinegar; a day in the fridge and they taste of bread and butter pickles.
Questions, answered
Why are they called bread and butter pickles?
The name comes from the Depression era, when a sandwich of these sweet pickles between buttered bread was a whole lunch. Omar and Cora Fanning, who trademarked the name in the 1920s, are usually credited — they reputedly bartered jars of them for groceries, including bread and butter.
Which cucumbers work best?
Small, firm pickling cucumbers (Kirby types) are ideal — dense flesh, few seeds, maximum crunch. Small ridged or baby cucumbers work well too. Big watery salad cucumbers are the weakest choice, but if that is what you have, halve them, scoop the seeds and slice them a little thicker.
How long do refrigerator pickles keep?
Fully covered in brine and refrigerated, about 2 months — though the crunch is at its best over the first month. Always fish them out with a clean fork, and top the jar up so the slices stay submerged.
Can I make them shelf-stable?
Yes — pack the hot pickles and brine into sterilised jars leaving 1 cm of headspace, seal, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Shelf-stable jars keep up to a year in a cool, dark cupboard; refrigerate after opening. The trade-off is a slightly softer pickle than the fridge method.