Le Bon Petit Chou: How Mr. Cucumber became Mr. Pickle

Let's all be honest...it took us several years to figure out that a pickle was, in its earlier life, actually a cucumber. No? Ok, well it took me well into my aged years to make this connection. I liken the change of a cucumber to a pickle to that of a caterpillar to a butterfly. While a cucumber doesn't drastically change its shape like a caterpillar in this transformation, it does take on a distinctly new identify. Once pickled, no one calls a pickle a cucumber. Once metamorphosed, no one calls a butterfly a caterpillar. You can never go back from either of these changes, in name or form.

Cucumbers are lovely. Pickles are lovely. They are just very different. I can't say that one is better than the other. Cucumbers have a lovely freshness and crispness, and pickles have an intense richness of flavor. They each have their own applications. To continue the analogy, both caterpillars and butterflies are lovely in their own ways: the former for its cute rings and odd movement and the latter for its beautiful and colorful wings. Again, they each have their own place in the world. But I digress...

Here we are talking about pickles; in my kitchen, butterflies are not a food (although Sassy cat does like to hunt them). I am a recent pickle convert. Before I was deterred from pickles because I only ever encountered the icky, generic ones that would appear unwelcomely on the side of my plate when I ordered a sandwich. Those unfortunate experiences made me turn my nose away from all pickles. My journey to pickledom, however, started as I developed more of a liking for acidic, vinegar-y tastes. Perhaps first came the chutneys, then the more sour salad dressings, and finally splashing my sauteed veggies with same vinegar at the end of the cooking process. Last summer, swamped in radishes of all shapes, colors, and sizes, I pickled some. They turned out lovely! This summer, I was visiting Louisa, and she introduced me to Bubbies Bread and Butter pickles. One pickle and I was hooked. Two pickles and I was obsessed. Three pickles and I was addicted. When we finished the container a day later, I knew I was going to have a pickle problem.

With all problems, there's a solution. In this case: either buy more Bubbies or make my own pickles. Well, I was going to be lazy and buy Bubbies with the full intention of studying the pickles and ingredients to later make my own. However, my Whole Foods, tiny as it is, did not have them! I considered buying another brand of bread and butter pickles, but I resisted. I was just going to have to dive into the pickling process on my own. I bought some cucumbers.

I started researching bread and butter pickles online. They all seemed relatively standard. I was relieved, however, to see that Smitten Kitchen had just the recipe for bread and butter pickles I needed. I can always trust her, and in this case, I was not really sure what I was doing, so I was happy to have a good recipe and good directions.

These pickles are delicious and slightly sweet. They are perfect on their own as a snack, in a burger, on toast, or on an egg. The possibilities are endless! Just make up a big jar, keep them in the fridge, and pop a few out whenever your breakfast/lunch/dinner needs some pizzazz.

Bread and Butter Pickles
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

1 pound cucumbers, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds (I used 3 cucumbers)
1 large white onion, thinly sliced into crescents
3 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp mustard seed
1/4 tsp celery seed

Directions:

Mix the cucumbers and salt in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap and let sit for 2 hours, stirring a couple of times.
After 2 hours, drain the cucumbers.
Combine the vinegar, sugar, and spices in a medium-large pot. Bring to a boil, stirring so the sugar doesn't burn.
Add in the drained cucumbers. Stir into the liquid. Bring the liquid back up to a boil.
Once boiling, remove from heat. Let cool completely, then package in a glass jar and store in the fridge*. Let the pickles sit for a good 24 hours before eating them so that they can absorb lots of pickly goodness.

*Please note: these are not directions for true pickling in that I do not have experience with sterilizing glass jars so that their contents can be left at room temperature for months/years. These are fridge pickles! Keep them in the fridge so they don't spoil!