Grandma's Two Day Sweet Pickle Slices, no canning required!

If you and your family are fans of sweet pickles, you will love this easy recipe for Grandma's Two Day Sweet Pickle Slices. Crunchy and delicious these sweet pickle slices require NO canning!

These slices are as good as old fashioned Bread and Butter Pickles, but with no canning required.

Years ago, I made traditional Bread and Butter Pickles from the Ball Blue Book of Canning, one summer for my family. They are easy to make and delicious to eat, but we found we couldn't eat a whole recipe batch, as written. The last few jars would sit on the shelf and well, they would just, sit on the shelf...When I thought about it, as a child, sweet pickle slices were served at holiday times, along with pickled cherry peppers. Now don't ask me why, but I carried on that tradition of only serving sweet pickle slices at holiday times...

For Pete's sake, it was no wonder we could not get through a recipe's worth of Bread and Butter Pickles each year!

Funny thing, but now that it is just the two of us, we eat more sweet pickles than ever before!

Yes, we do love a good sweet pickle slice on the side, but I also use them in recipes. Like this recipe for Mary's Potato Salad and this one for BBQ Chicken Salad for Sandwiches. And our favorite Tuna Salad for sandwiches simply would not be as good without chopped pickle! Most of the time pickling cucumbers are hard to come by, even in the heart of the summer season. Which led me to develop and try this easy no canning recipe for sweet pickle slices. When I first made this recipe for Grandma's Two Day Sweet Pickle Slices I started with a 3-pack of organic English cucumbers from a well-known big box store...

But since moving to East Texas and having our own garden, I knew I needed to update this recipe to make sure is cooks up, just as good, with homegrown cucumbers...because as it turns out cucumbers is something I can grow! And it was fun to use my recently unpacked food processor for the slicing!

I have to say, we can't get enough of these pickles!

Grandma's Two Day Sweet Pickle Slices taste as good or even better than the recipe from the Ball Blue Book of Canning, and with no canning! Perfect to keep the kitchen cool in the heat of summer. They are crunchy and zippy, plus they stay that way while stored in your refrigerator until the last slice is enjoyed. They are a perfect "small-batch" recipe to enjoy, and if your family is like ours, make on regular rotation.

This is now a 3 English cucumber recipe. What?

The first time I made this recipe I only used two of the cucumbers (recipe development, and all). Needless to say, our first little jar of sweet pickle slices was gone before we knew it. Plus I realized that the syrup could completely handle that third cucumber. It was at that point I knew I had to rework the recipe to use all three cucumbers! Since English cucumbers have a higher water content than pickling cucumbers, I needed to factor that in. But this recipe takes care of that so you get a crunchy pickle slice every time!

Grandma's Two Day Sweet Pickle Slices combine old-time pickle-making process (salting and resting) along with a new twist to accommodate those English cucumbers or your own homegrown. And while the name says two days, you can relax, because each process takes but a few minutes, so don't let the name frighten you off! These sweet pickle slices go in just about every sandwich my husband makes, but for me, I like them on the side...

So what's the verdict, using homegrown cucumbers?

I loved finding the seeds from the cucumbers, in the pickle slice, it's funny but those same seeds were present in my Mom's Bread and Butter Pickles. And I remembered she used fresh onion slices when she made them, giving me the inspiration to use fresh onions for this batch. And now some of the other things observed using garden cucumbers. The skin is a bit tougher, than the English cucumbers, again something I remembered from Mom's pickles.

And I must say, as much as I love using my food processor to slice, you would need an adjustable slicing disc, so that you can get the right thickness. My "thick" slicing disc is too thin for a good pickle slice. So next batch, I will hand slice. As I have all the previous cucumbers. But trust me these won't go to waste, and I will probably make another batch before the cucumber plant is done for the season! And along the lines of recipe development, since I was out of dried onion pieces, I substituted fresh, which worked great, as did the dab of mustard in place of the mustard seeds.

Some thoughts on this recipe:

You can put the sliced cucumbers and salt to rest the night before and finish the next day.

Or.

You can put the cucumbers and salt to rest in the morning and finish up that night if desired. But do give the cucumbers about 8 hours to rest. In order to remove the excess water, especially important when working with English cucumbers.

By the way, when all the slices have been enjoyed, the leftover pickling brine makes delicious pickled beets when poured over cooked and peeled beet slices...let them mellow for a few days in the fridge.

Ingredients needed for this recipe:

English Cucumbers or standard garden cucumbers
vinegar
salt
sugar
mustard seeds or a dab of mustard
turmeric
dried onion pieces, or 1/3 c diced fresh onions

You will also need the following:

cutting board
kitchen knife
large mixing bowl
cotton kitchen towel
large strainer
measuring spoons
measuring cups
slotted spoon
canning funnel
large stockpot, stainless steel preferred
1-quart jar(s) with lid

Now we are ready to begin!

Grandma's Two Day Sweet Pickle Slices

by the seat of my pants!

UPDATED: 06.24.2023

3 large English Cucumbers or about 5 garden cucumbers

1 T and 1 t salt

1 1/2 c sugar

1 1/2 c white vinegar

1/4 t salt

1/4 t turmeric

2 t mustard seeds or a dab of Dijon or ball park

1 T dried onion pieces or 1/3 c diced fresh onion

Put the cucumbers and the salt to rest:

Wash dry and slice the cucumbers 1/4 inch thick. Place the sliced cucumbers into a large-sized mixing bowl along with the salt. Toss together until the salt has been mixed into and around all of the cucumber slices. Cover with a towel and let rest for 8 hours or overnight.

The next day:

Drain off the salty water that has formed in the bottom of the mixing bowl.

Next fill the bowl with water, then using your hands, swish the slices around in the water, and drain. Repeat two more times.

Empty the slices into a strainer and allow them to drain thoroughly.

In a large stockpot, bring the remaining ingredients to a boil (white vinegar, sugar, salt, turmeric, mustard seeds and dried onion pieces), allow to boil for 3 to 5 minutes, add the drained cucumber slices. Return the mixture to a boil, and boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute, for super crispy slices, or 2 or 3 minutes for a softer crisp. Choose your crisp style, and set a timer, you do not want to overcook the cucumber slices.

When the timer chimes, remove the stockpot from the burner. Allow everything to cool to room temperature. This may take about three hours, or you can proceed the next day, this is a very forgiving recipe!

To finish:

Using a slotted spoon and canning funnel, remove the pickle slices from the brine. Placing them into a storage container. A quart-sized jar is perfect for storing in the refrigerator. Depending upon how much the slices reduced in volume while resting in salt, you may need more than one jar.

Return the stockpot with the pickling syrup to the stove and bring it to a boil.

For English Cucumber Pickle Slices, Boil for 10 minutes to reduce the water content of the syrup.

For Homegrown Cucumbers, Simply bring the syrup to a boil.

Remove the stockpot from the burner and allow it to cool to medium-hot. Pour over the pickle slices, in the refrigerator jar. Cap and let sit until the contents have cooled to room temperature. Label and store in the refrigerator.

Storage options for Grandma's Two Day Sweet Pickle Slices. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to three months, but I am pretty sure they won't last that long!

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