Bread & Butter Pickles

My Grandmother use to make bread and butter pickles that were delicious. However, like most other recipes I’ve found they contained sugar, onions and mustard seeds. These are completely cooling and ideal for lesser yang. In addition, they are refrigerator pickles so you don’t have to get out all the canning equipment. They last about 2 weeks in the fridge. That is if you don’t eat them all up first.

Yield: About 4 cups

5½ cups sliced pickling cucumbers

1½ tablespoons of kosher salt (or other coarse salt)

1 cup thinly sliced celery

1 cup concentrated white grape juice

1 cup white vinegar

½ cup coconut vinegar

¼ cup sucanat

1 teaspoon dill seeds

Combine cucumbers and salt in a large, shallow bowl; cover and chill 1 ½ hours. Move cucumbers into a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Drain well and return cucumbers to bowl. Add celery to the bowl.

Combine grape juice and remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sucanat dissolves. Pour hot vinegar mixture over cucumber mixture, let stand at room temperature 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.