Yes, the question was actually answered by me several times in the past. B&B pickles are sweet and use just mustard seeds and celery seeds as the spices, and yuou can add a little dill seed too. They can use a 80:20 combination of white, and cider vinegar, as well as a small amount of brown sugar with mostly white sugar. They are not quite as sweet as the sweet mixed. B&B are mostly thin sliced cukes and maybe some onion slices. I also add some whole mustard, and celery seeds to each jar. Sweet mixed, can be a combination of cuke chunks, whole onions (small white boiling type), cauliflower, a few sweet red pepper pieces for color, and even a few small carrot chunks. I pack each jar with the fresh veggies, and layer them. The brine is sweeter than the B&B as mentioned. The spices used, along with mustard and celery seed, are clove, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, bayleaf, a few peppercorns, dill, and even a few coriander seeds. I use a combination of whie and cider vinegar as well, but usually a 50:50 mix. I can't have much sugar, so I use Splenda as the sweetener and found that it will really be quite powerul when used even in a very small quantity. It must have something to do with the vinegar. A regular sweet mixed pickle recipe can have several pounds of sugar in it, compared to about just half a cup of Splenda in a 7 quart batch. The Ball Bluebook has both types of recipes, as well as the Ball and Mrs. Wages pickle mixes. I like using the mixes as a base, and add additional spices to my own taste. Packing the veggies cold, and filling with boiling brine, wil make them shrink a little, so if you want a tight pack, suggest that you soak the veggies a couple of minutes in teh hot brine, then scoop out the veggies, pack, and pour the boiling brine over them, then cap and process. The last time I made sweet mixed, every person who tasetd them wanted me to bring them each a case. I use the same sweet mix brine for pickling beets too.

Bread and butter pickles are on the sweet end of the spectrum, but not as sweet as regular sweet pickles.

Bread and butter pickles are generally thinly sliced, sometimes crinkle-cut and may have sliced onion in the mixture. Common spices as mentioned are mustard and celery seed; turmeric is common for color.

The document I've linked to includes an old USDA recipe for Crosscut Pickle Slices. It's an excellent bread and butter pickle. Easy to make, reliable and very attractive in the jar.

Sweet Pickles have a very high ratio of sugar to vinegar. Think of them as "candied cucumber" and you'll come close. If you can check out "Joy of Pickling" from the library you'll see that sweet pickles cover a wide range, from whole gherkins to chunks. Many sweet pickle recipes call for pickling spice. The results will vary depending upon the brand. Penzey's, for instance, has a high proportion of star anise and cardamom, which makes it quite distinctive compared to say, Great American Spice blend, which is more traditional. Other recipes call for fewer spices like cinnamon sticks and cloves, which are added individually.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Food Preservation Pickles and Relishes

These are the best, LOL !
LINDA LOU'S SWEET PICKLE CHUNKS
Sweet pickle chunks:
Pour boiling water over 24 pickling cukes for 4 days. On 5th day, drain, add this syrup.Cut cukes in chunks.
8 cups sugar
4 cups cider vinegar 5% acidity
3 1/2 tsp. pickling and canning salt
2 Tbsp. pickling spices, tied in a bag.
Drain and heat syrup for 3 more days. On 4th day, pack pickles into jars, seal with lid. Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes.
I love these with tuna!
I used pickle crisp on these and my dh says they are TOO crunchy. I like them crunchy. The pickle crisp didn't hurt mine at all.
The notes and recipe are Linda Lou's original post.
You drain off the water each day, boil fresh water, and pour over the cucumbers. Let sit a while to cool down before you cover them up.
On the 5th day, drain off all the water. Cut cucumbers into chunks. Make the syrup, pour over the cut up cucumbers. Then, each day for 3 more days, pour off the syrup, bring syrup with the spice bag to a boil and pour back over the chunks of cucumbers. On the 4th day of the syrup, drain off, boil, pack pickles into jars, pour over the hot syrup, seal jars, and process in the BWB.

Linda Lou: In this recipe of yours, when do you add the pickle crisp, and how much? Do you remember how many pints (or quarts) you filled with this recipe? And if I were to double the recipe, do you think I need to actually double the sugar/vinegar brine as well? (I've often noticed that I end up with more brine than I need.) This looks like a wonderful recipe and I, too, love sweet pickle chunks with my tuna sandwiches and salads!

We're watching all of our trees finishing their blossoming, and look forward to the start of cherries in mid-July. Where we live here on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state (across the water from Victoria, British Columbia) the weather doesn't always cooperate with enough heat for tomatoes or cucumbers, but we're trying anyway.

Kathy

Here's an old thread with lots of information about the recipe Linda Lou posted.

You add the Pickle Crisp to the jars. Just follow the instructions on the box.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Linda Lou's Sweet Pickles

Simply follow the directions on the Picklle Crisp box as mentioned. Most everyting I wrote about in my inital reply has just been repeated by another poster (Carol). My last use of Pickle Crisp was in my very difficult to can pepperoncini. The jar I opened last night was dated 2006, and was still as crisp as the ones you buy in stores. Same with sweet cherry peppers, although it was the first time I used Splenda which made them a bit too sweet.

Ken, thanks for explaining the differences. I just processed my first batch of LLSPC's this year. (This is my second year/second time making them.) And I have 30 more cukes that I am trying to decide on what recipe to use next.

(Carol- Your description of "candied cucumber" is accurate. That's exactly how I have described LLSPC's.)

I'm using a cornichon-type cuke we decided to try growing this year. It's burpless and seedless, but doesn't seem to soften during the pickling. At least not with Linda Lou's recipe. Very productive vine keeps me in good supply. We've already eaten some fresh cukes, discarded some overgrown cukes, and as I mentioned I have 30 more fruits ready for next batch of pickles from only 4 plants that we started from seed late this season (Zone 5 we usually plant Memorial Day weekend, but we didn't until second week of June!)! By way of comparison, Kirby cukes started in our garden at the same time are just starting to be ready, but only a couple at a time. The Straight 8's are showing only one small fruit that's far from harvest-ready. Last year growing Kirby's...it was challenge having enough to harvest around the same time to be able to pickle. Usually needed to harvest for at least 3 intervals to have enough, but often lost some to spoilage in the refrigerator while trying to accumulate enough to pickle. No problems this year! Harvesting enough is a breeze with "Cool Breeze."

Thanks Ken, Carol, Linda and others for all your expert advice. I've read through many of the discussion threads that you've posted on.

Usually a 'burpless' variety isnt really good for pickles as it lacks a necessary 'charateristic', usually found in regular pickling cukes. I think it also reduces the crispness after a few months. Here, I grow National Pickler, County Fair, Heinz, and another type. I pick more than 30 cukes per day. If I miss that one hiding and its there two more days is huge. I use soaker hoses as they help to get plenty of water to the plants. Right now, I am seeing traces of white powdery mildew on lower leaves. I have to spray with Serenade to keep it from spreading. I was very impressed with Serenade fungicide last year. If I wanted cornicons, I could pick a bunch ofr my cukes just after the blossom dies out. Then they are only about 1-2 inches long. Once pickled, no 'burpless' would be evident, in any cuke.

When we bought the seeds, I hadn't realized that "Cool Breeze" is considered a burpless, seedless variety. I selected it because it was described as having fruits that set early, a French cornichon type (gherkin) that was pickling size, also great in salads, and best when picked 4-5" long. Since I knew I was going to want to make Linda's recipe again, I thought Linda Lou's recipe or a variation of it might do well with this cuke if I wanted to try to make gherkins or maybe small whole sweet pickles. (I have since come across the NCHFP recipes, which I may use to make 1-2" and/or 3-4" gherkins by picking earlier.) It wasn't until I was posting yesterday that I went back to read the catalog description and learned of its burpless & seedless nature...(apparently they mean when you pick them smaller than 4-5"). I became concerned, because I remember having read one of your postings, Ken, where you mentioned that burpless don't make good pickles. I just hope this batch is an exception. They seemed crunchy enough before processing. No hollow centers, no shrivelling either. Good thing I put a bit of Pickle Crisp into each jar before sealing! These burpless might otherwise get soft sooner than the other cuke varieties and our bottles don't tend to get consumed all that fast.

What recipe do you use if you want to make gherkins? I thought it interesting that the NCHFP recipes calls for pricking the cukes with a fork during one of the brining soaks, I figure to let the flavor/vinegar/sugar in. I never noticed any holes in the store-bought gherkins!

I'll have to make note of the varieties you're growing. Didn't know there's one called 'Heinz'. How many plants are you growing to be able pick 30 everyday? I thought 30 from my 4 little plants was pretty good and there's still little ones on the nodes I already picked from. Weirdly plentiful, but great if you want to make gherkins! I wish my Kirby's were more plentiful.

Pickled gherkins can be any flavor, sweet, dill, or whatever flaver you desire. Also, the very small cukes (under 1-2 inches) become soft quite fast if picked very young as the fibers inside are not well developed. A cornicon is actually a true strain that once grown beyond about 4 inches is a bit odd tasting. I wasn't impressed with the some of the bigger cornicons I grew a few years ago. I made a sweet dill gherkins with my really young cukes. My plants are now seeing very heavy rains, and by the weekend (if it finally stops), I have to spray for that powedery mildew again. Too much water (overhead) is not good for cuke plants!!

I have about 14 slotted holes cut in a heavy black fabric mulch and each slot gets about 3-6 seeds in the 10 inch long slots.

After posting, I realized that the 'Heinz' was a tomato variety. The links below do offer several types. I may try the Mexican Sour sometime due to its stronger taste and tiny size. As a sweet gherkin, it may make for a really unusal pickle!

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/search.aspx?scommand=page&search=cucumber&qstateid=e6a2f502-b903-423f-a9e0-25e49a0638ac&sp=1

A VERY UNIQUE and tiny cuke, looks lie a miniature watermelon.
http://www.territorialseed.com/product/7232/s

Interesting what you say about gherkins, Ken. But it doesn't surprise me to learn something new every time I read here at the Gardenweb.

Thanks for links!

I'm going to try Bread n Butter for the small to medium sized cornichons. I hope they don't disappoint. Maybe I'd better do a small batch and use the larger portion for AB's B&B's recipe for a quick Bread and Butter pickle.

If a regular bath process B&B recipe disappoints with the "Cool Breeze", then I'll use the Kirby's next for B&B.

I may try pickling some green tomatoes this year. We have plenty of fruit but none ripening yet! :-(

Let us know how the Mexican Sour sweet gherkin turns out. You could call it "Sour n Sweet" (instead of Sweet n Sour).

;-)

The B&B pickles I make are slices using a crinkle cutter. Either by hand or by a slicing disk on my Kitchen Center. I also add thinly sliced onions. For each jar, I put in a teaspoon of whole mustard seeds and whole celery seeds. For dash of color a few bits of sweet red pepper flakes that swell up once in the brine. B&B are less sweet compared to regular sweet mixed. For regular sweet mixed, I also add cauliflower, small whole onions, and a bit more of the red peppers.

We include thin rings of both red and yellow bell peppers in our B&B. Makes it very colorful and quite attractive both in the jar and when serving.

Dave