Cucumbers to Pickles

I love cucumbers....they're probably my favorite vegetable. I know there are people who can't eat them...it's really too bad for them. My favorites are the little picklers. On bagels for a delicious breakfast. In salads. Especially orzo salad.

But when they're coming fast and furious, pickles are a sure fire way to use up lots of them. I've never had good luck with dill pickles -- so I stick with bread and butters -- they're great with our quick supper standby tuna salad sandwiches.

I started with a lot of cucumbers and onions fresh from our garden.


Then sliced them thinly with a mandolin (one of the all time great kitchen tools - it makes slicing so fast and easy).


After boiling for 5-10 minutes in a vinegar, sugar, and spice mixture, we canned them outside on the patio using our propane cooker (it beats heating up the kitchen on a hot summer day).

That batch resulted in 7 perfect pints of delicious pickles.