The Tasty Life: Pickles and Pears and Beets, Oh My!

I did a lot of canning last week. A lot. Right now in my pantry I have 19 half quart jars of bread and butter pickles, 6 quart jars of dill pickles, 2 quart and 2 half quart jars of pickled beets, 7 half quart jars of pears, and 4 quarter quart jars of pear butter. I could write a Christmas song about them. It was definitely a lot of work, especially the bread and butter pickles, but looking at those jars gives me such a sense of achievement. I have already shared the recipe I used for the pears so I thought next I would share how I made my bread and butter pickles.
I went to St. Jacob's Market to buy my pickling cukes and beets. I bought 21 pounds of cucumbers for $16. It didn't seem like such a large basket until I got home and tried to fit them in my fridge! I used 16 pounds of them to make the bread and butter pickles. Slicing 16 pounds of cucumbers takes a while, I tried to use the slicing adapter thing on my food processor, but it sliced them too thin. I like my bread and butter pickles to be about 1/4 inch thick. I also had to chop 4 pounds of onions, but for that I definitely used the food processor. They still made me cry though! I had to divide up the pickles, onions, and salt between two bins because I knew I could never fit them all into one pot. That's one of the reasons it was so much work, because after getting my first batch jarred and starting to process I had to start all over with the next batch. I'm going to give the recipe for the amount that I made, but it's easy to change it for the amount you want to make.

16 pounds of pickling cucumbers (42 cups sliced)
4 pounds onions (6 cups diced)
1 1/3 cups pickling salt
9 cups vinegar
6 cups sugar
6 tbsp mustard seed
6 tsp ground turmeric
3 tsp ground cloves
ice cubes

Mix the cucumber slices, onion, and salt in a large container. Cover with ice cubes and place in fridge for 1 1/2 to 3 hours.
Remove from fridge and rinse in cold water, drain well.
Bring remaining ingredients to a boil, add cucumbers and onions and return to a boil.
Pack prepared* jars with pickle mixture, leaving 1/2" space at the top. Wipe rims clean and then place the lids and rings on the jars, be careful not to over tighten the ring.
Place the jars in a hot water bath, making sure the water covers each jar. Boil the jars for 10 minutes. Remove from water and place on a clean tea towel and do not move for 24 hours. Make sure each lid has sealed, you will hear a popping noise when it seals and the lid will curve inwards.
Store in a cool place for 6 weeks before opening.
*Prepare the jars and rings by boiling them in water for 10 minutes. The jars still need to be hot when you add pickles to them. Add hot water to a bowl with the lids in it to soften the seals.