Supposedly so tasty all you need to have with them with is bread and butter, these are the perfect accompaniment to burgers, cold cuts, cheese, and so on. The pickles should be sweet, tangy, and crisp.

Bread and Butter pickles

• 10 cups sliced trimmed stuff*

• 4 medium onions, thinly sliced

• ½ cup pickling or canning salt

• 3 cups white vinegar

• 2 cups sugar

• 2tbsp mustard seeds

• 1tsp celery seeds

• 1tsp turmeric

In a non-reactive (stainless steel, glass, or plastic) bowl combine [stuff], onions, and salt. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours then transfer to a colander, rinse thoroughly with cool running water and drain.

Sterilise jars and prepare lids and rings.

In a large non-reactive (stainless steel) saucepan combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and turmeric. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in [stuff] and return to a boil.

Pack room temperature (or chilled) vegetables into hot jars within a generous ½ inch of the top of the jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid into the jar to cover vegetables leaving ½ inch headspace.

Put into hot water bath canner, process in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid, wait for 5 minutes, remove jars, cool, and store.

* Above I say “stuff”. What do I mean by “stuff”? Well… cucumber, zucchini (courgette), yellow squash… let your imagination, tastebuds, and seasonal produce be your guide! You can also tweak and customise the spices to match your personal tastes – I like to add 1/2 teaspoon of fennel seed to the pickling mix, and throw a dehydrated chilli pepper into the jar – this tweak will not affect the preservation, but will allow you to make something completely to your own tastes. Go on, have some fun!

Why do I say to use room temperature or chilled veggies, when that will reduce the lifespan of the pickles? If you are like me and really enjoy crunchy pickles, cold-packed cucumbers retain a lot of crunch. And if you like them like I do, you won’t notice the reduced shelf life as they will all have been eaten anyway!