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Writer's pictureChef Todd Aarons

"In a pickle?".....Then read this!

Don't have the time to wait for your pickles to sour?


I grew up on those sweet bright yellow turmeric stained pickle chips labeled Bread and Butter Pickles. They are like candied cucumbers and are tasty and addictive but, when I'm having a pastrami sandwich then I need a savory, garlic laced dill pickle with the prominent flavor that dill seeds deliver. What ever your preference or need be these recipes employ a quick pickle process of hot vinegar brine poured over cucumbers and vegetables for an almost instant preservation. If you can wait, these pickles are better the next day. Natural pickles use mostly a salt brine and are allowed to ferment naturally with Lactobacillus bacteria that are present on the skin of the cucumbers. When you do not have the time for this process to completely sour your pickles, as did the impatient guy who invented the half sour, then these recipes will rescue your cravings.



Dill Pickle


10-12 pickling cucumbers

5 cups water 1.25 Liters

1/2 cup white vinegar 125 ml

5 tablespoons kosher salt 65 g

1 teaspoon dill seeds

1 teaspoon 3 g black peppercorns

1 tablespoon 10 g Pickling Spice

1 teaspoon sugar

big bunch of dill

10 medium cloves of garlic sliced


Pickling Spice Mix- Cant find, make your own.

  • 1 tablespoon mustard seeds

  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

  • 3/4 teaspoon celery seeds

  • 1 inch cinnamon stick

  • 6 allspice berries plus a pinch of ground allspice

  • 6 whole cloves plus a pinch of ground cloves

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric


Thank you Wikipedia......

Bread-and-butter pickles are a marinated variety of pickled cucumber in a solution of vinegar, sugar, and spices. Their name and their broad popularity in the United States are attributed to Omar and Cora Fanning, who were Illinois cucumber farmers that started selling sweet and sour pickles in the 1920s. They filed for the trademark "Fanning's Bread and Butter Pickles" in 1923 (though the recipe and similar recipes are probably much older). The story to the name is that the Fannings survived rough years by making the pickles with their surplus of undersized cucumbers and bartering them with their grocer for staples such as bread and butter.


Sweet Pickle


1.25 pounds pickling cucumbers

225 g sliced white onion

34 g kosher salt

250 ml apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)

225 g sugar

4 g mustard seeds

2 g chili flakes

4 g celery seed

4 g allspice berries

1 g cloves

1 teaspoon turmeric


Hot Pickle Instructions For Both Recipes

  • To make brine, combine water, vinegar, salt, and sugar and all the spices remaining in medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and swirl to make sugar and salt dissolve. Remove from heat.

  • Slice cucumbers into ¼ inch slices or spears. Place inside clean jars that have been sterilzed with hot water.

  • Do not pack them super tight as you you'll want room for the brine. For the dill pickles add the fresh dill, sliced garlic to the jars. Finish by adding enough hot brine to cover the cucumbers. Try to fill to the very top to limit any space in the top of the jar. Seal with an airtight lid and invert jar. Let cool on your counter until room temperature and then store in the refrigerator upright. Pickles should be good for at least 2- 3 months

  • Bread and butter pickles can be eaten as soon as 24 hours after making, but they’ll have the best flavor if you let them sit for at least a week (ideally 3 or more weeks). The dill pickles will be ready to eat the next day but are best after 2-3 weeks.








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