ICE CREAM PAIL PICKLES

Each year we plant a number of cucumber plants with the anticipation that we will get a fair number of cucumbers to eat. The cucumber plants are each surrounded by a circular trellis to allow the plant to climb up so that they grow up instead of on the ground. I find we need less garden space growing cucumbers this way.

We have been picking and eating cucumbers for the past month. I have been eating a cucumber almost every day. For the past number of summers I have made ice cream pail pickles It is a really easy recipe and you need, depending on their size, about six to eight cucumbers. Once you make the recipe, it takes about five days for the cucumbers sitting in the brine to start to taste like pickles. This recipe in essence makes what some people call bread and butter pickles. The picture I have included here is a batch I made tonight. The cucumbers will sink down over the next day or two and will be covered by the brine. The pickles last all winter in the fridge. After a month or so, I transfer the pickles and brine to large pickling jars as jars are easier to handle and store in the fridge.

Ice Cream Pail Pickles

4 cups sugar

2 tsp pickling salt

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp mustard seed

2 cups vinegar

1 small onion sliced

1 small sweet pepper sliced or chopped

1 large ice cream pail with lid

1. Fill an ice cream pail with thinly sliced cucumbers and layer onions and sweet pepper as you fill the pail with sliced cucumbers. I pack the ice cream pail with sliced cucumbers.
2. To make the brine, mix the sugar, spices and vinegar in a bowl. Mix well.
3. Pour the brine over the pickles in the pail. As you are pouring the brine, keep stirring it in order to prevent the sugar from settling on the bottom of the mixing bowl.
4. Cover the pail with the lid and place in the fridge. Within a week you have pickles.