Pickle Power!

Back when Food Network actually aired cooking programs, the hosts would always tell a story about they related to the food they were cooking.  It could be that they watched their mother or grandparent make this food when they were younger, or perhaps it was a dish that they made for a longtime love.

The point is that the food they were making had  a personal meaning to them.  Well, these sweet pickles that I made have a personal meaning to me.

My grandparents lived in Muskegon, MI and we would go and visit them at least once every couple months (more if there was a holiday).  I can't speak for my brothers, but I hated the car ride up to visit them.  It was only a couple hours but for a young boy sitting in the back of a Ford Taurus with his two bothers it seemed like an eternity.

When we would finally arrive, the first thing we would see as we walked in the door was my Grandma greeting us with open arms.  After the mandatory hug, the next thing we saw were homemade dinner rolls and sweet pickles.

I had always considered myself a dill pickle guy and, at least when I was younger, wasn't too keen on trying new things.  The first time I remember trying sweet pickles was actually an accident...I had assumed they were dill.

When I tried them though, I immediately loved them.  They were sweet, but still crunchy.  It was a perfect snack alternative.

When we decided to plant pickling cucumbers in our garden this year, I knew that I had to try and make sweet pickles.

Since I didn't have my grandma's recipe, I decided to call upon my good friend Pinter Rest (pinterest).  I found many recipes for bread and butter pickles, but not any for sweet pickles.  After doing some more research, I found that bread and butter pickles are a type of sweet pickle.  Bread and butter pickles are sweet, thinly sliced pickles made from cucumbers, onions, and chopped green or red peppers.  They have a distinct, slightly tangy taste.

One thing I've never been afraid to do when cooking or baking is changing the recipes I am working with and the recipe I found for these pickles is no different.  I took out the onion and peppers (because I didn't have any).  Instead of celery seeds I used celery salt, and took tumeric out of the recipe altogether.

What I ended up with were pickles that were slightly sweet and tasted very close to the pickles I remember at my Grandmas house.

The recipe for making these pickles is as follows...

• After cleaning the cucumbers, cut them into "chips" using either a knife or mandolin.  A mandolin will aid in keeping the pickle chips uniform.  If you have a knife (like I did), you're just going to have to eyeball it.  
• Sprinkle 1.5 tbsp of kosher salt onto the cucumbers, coating as evenly as possible and place in a bowl.  Cover and chill in a refrigerator for 1.5 hours.  This will draw out any excess moisture.
• After 1.5 hours, drain the excess water from the cucumbers and place the chips in a colander.  Rinse any leftover salt off of cucumbers and set aside.  
• Begin to make pickling brine by combining 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, and 1/2 tsp celery salt in a sauce pan.  
• Bring this to a simmer, stirring only until the sugars have been dissolved.  
• Pour mixture over the pickle chips and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.  
• Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.  
• Store these pickles in an airtight container, refrigerated.  They will be good for up to two weeks (if they last that long...we've been eating them very quickly).

These pickles are so good, they even converted my wife (a self proclaimed dill pickle fan) into a sweet pickle lover.  We've even decided to make the rest of the pickles from our garden into sweet pickles.