Searching for long lost pickle recipe

June 19, 2009 10:57 AM

Need the bread and butter pickle recipe from either the Ball or Kerr canning recipe books. Hep me!

My mom's bread and butter pickle recipe came from a 1970s edition of either the Ball Blue Book or the Kerr canning book, but she can't find the books (or the recipe). My library doesn't have the books, either.

The recipe was very simple -- vinegar, sugar, onions, mustard seeds and maybe turmeric. No weird stuff, like a lot of the recipes I'm finding online. (And the recipe on Ball/Kerr's own site now calls for "Ball® Simple Creations® Bread & Butter Pickle Mix." That ain't happening.)

This is the version I grew up with, so I'd like to use it.

Any help? I've got 5 lbs of cukes that need to go into jars tomorrow.

posted by mudpuppie to food & drink (7 comments total)

Here's a page with Kerr Canning Recipes, including the b&b pickle.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:02 AM on June 19

Thanks much for finding that, sidhedevil. This proves, I think, that the recipe must have been from the Ball Blue Book, because her recipe didn't use peppers or cloves.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:10 AM on June 19

(Though it occurs to me that I could use that one and leave those things out, if it comes to that. The syrup is probably the same.)
posted by mudpuppie at 11:12 AM on June 19

This claims to be the Ball recipe.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:17 AM on June 19

This also has a clove-free recipe that it cites to a Ball book.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:20 AM on June 19

You, madam, rock. (And you seem to be better at the Google than I am.)

The second one is it. Thanks so much.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:23 AM on June 19

The third link from Sidhedevil is very similar to the one I use. The major difference is that instead of 3 cups of vinegar, I use 2 cups vinegar and 1 cup apple cider vinegar.
posted by onhazier at 11:25 AM on June 19