Learn how to make sugar-free bread and butter pickles with our recipe below.
Dan Smith
One of the great, under-appreciated Southern delicacies of my youth was the bread and butter pickle, which contains neither bread nor butter, but certainly is that basic.
These pickles, made when the garden was at its height (and often served with freshly picked tomatoes) were sweet/sour/salty in just the right proportions to complement any meal. They are a welcome diversion from dill pickles, which remain the staple.
And they are easy to make. I'm diabetic, so I like them without the sugar. Stevia, which I have grown in my garden in the past, is a natural substitute. Buy the granular form. It's easier to handle.
Here's what you need:
- 3 medium-sized pickling cucumbers, peeled and sliced
- 2 whole scallions, chopped (you can use Vidalia onions, since it's the season)
- 3 tablespoons Irish sea salt
- ¼ cup stevia (sugar substitute)
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon tumeric
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
Mix the vinegar, salt, stevia, tumeric, celery seed and mustard seeds and add water. Taste to see if you've achieved the right balance of Stevia and vinegar. Add whatever you need. Shake well and add the onions and cucumbers. Fill your container (about a quart) to the rim with water. Refrigerate and serve in about three hours.
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).