#617 - 24 Hour Bread and Butter Pickles

(by Kenneth Miller - friend)

9 cups thickly sliced cucumbers (washed but not peeled)
2 cups thickly sliced onions
2 cups white sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. mustard seed
1 tsp. celery seed

Place sliced cucumbers and sliced onions in a 1 gallon glass jar OR a stainless steel pot OR a granite pot--set aside. In a saucepan add white sugar, cider vinegar, salt, celery seed and mustard seed. Turn heat on high--stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, pour this juice over the cucumbers. Place Saran Wrap over the jar/pot--let stand for 24 hours. The next day using a large pot, empty the cucumbers and juice into the pot. Heat just until very hot (not boiling). Put pint jars in the oven on the racks and set temp. to 200 degrees. Take the jar lids and rings and cover them with water in a saucepan--bring them to a boil. Put cucumbers/onion/juice in each jar until you run out of the mixture. Take a tableknife and insert it all around the sides and middle of the jars to get the air bubbles out. Put the ring and center piece on each jar and turn tightly. Put the jars on a surface that can safely stand heat. Let them cool and as they cool they will seal themselves. If the jars seal properly, they will last about 2 years. Once you open a jar, refrigerate it. If any jars have buttons that don't go down, use those jars first because they didn't seal.