Five-Minute Bread and Butter Pickles

Without wishing to sound too cocky, I think that these are the best pickles I have ever eaten. The farmers' market had beautiful tiny, seedless cucumbers that I simply needed to quarter for this recipe, but regular cucumbers work as well. Just be sure to deseed them and cut them thinly as these have no cooking time.

My grandmother used to make the most delicious sweet and sour bread and butter pickle slices but, as an adult, I typically don't like my pickles sweet. If you do, you can add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of granulated sugar to your brine.

4 cups worth of cucumber spears

5 cloves of garlic, peeled, lightly crushed

1 tsp pink peppercorns, lightly crushed

1 tsp yellow mustard seeds

Couple of sprigs of fresh dill

1 cup water

1 1/3 c white vinegar

2 Tbsps kosher salt

Place the cucumbers and the dill in a sterilized jar.

Place all the other ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.

Pour over the cucumbers until completely submerged. If there is too much liquid, drain and discard it, add the garlic and spices back into the jar with the cucumbers.

Cover with the lid, without screwing it on tightly and allow to cool completely on the countertop.

When cool, screw the lid on tightly and refrigerate. These can be used after 24 hours which give the cucumbers time to absorb all the flavors from the brine and spices.

I cannot tell you how long these last in the fridge though - with that amount of salt I would imagine a fair number of weeks - as these were eaten in a week. I put them in everything and made everyone who walked into my house try a spear.