How to Make Bread and Butter Pickles in Canada (Bernardin Method)

Bread-and-butter pickles are the sweet, sour, mustard-spiced cousin of dill pickles. They’re the church-supper pickle. The grilled-cheese pickle. The “I-don’t-actually-like-dill” pickle. Canadian Depression-era home-canners spread them across the country and they’ve been a fixture ever since.

This guide covers the Bernardin method. Standard times are noted; verify against your Bernardin edition.

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What you need

• 2 kg pickling cucumbers (Kirby — see the soft-pickles article for variety guidance) — yields about 6 × 500 mL jars
• 2 medium yellow onions — or 1 large
• ¼ cup pickling salt (non-iodized) — for the salt-soak
• 2 cups white vinegar (5% acidity) — apple cider also works
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1 tsp celery seeds
• 1 tsp ground turmeric — gives the iconic golden colour
• Optional: ¼ tsp red pepper flakes for mild heat
• Pickle Crisp (calcium chloride) — ⅛ tsp per 500 mL jar for crispness
• Bernardin 500 mL regular-mouth jars, fresh SNAP lids, bands
• Standard canning kit — jar lifter, headspace tool, funnel, water-bath canner, ladle, large bowl for the salt-soak, large pot for the brine

Method

Step 1: Salt-soak (3 hours minimum)

1. Wash cucumbers under cool water. Trim 1-2 mm off the blossom end of each (see the soft pickles article for why this matters).
2. Slice cucumbers into 4-6 mm rounds. Use a mandoline for uniformity or a sharp knife. Don’t go thinner than 3 mm or they get limp.
3. Slice onions into half-rings of similar thickness.
4. Layer in a large bowl: cucumber slices, onion slices, sprinkle pickling salt, repeat.
5. Press down with a heavy plate to compress the layers and bring up brine.
6. Refrigerate 3 hours (or up to overnight; longer is fine but not necessary).

During the soak the cucumbers release water and develop a slightly translucent, firmer texture. The water pooled at the bottom is what you want OUT of the cucumbers before pickling.

Step 2: Rinse and drain

1. Transfer the cucumber-onion mixture to a colander.
2. Rinse thoroughly under cool water — at least 1 minute, agitating to wash off all the surface salt.
3. Drain well. Press gently to squeeze out excess water but don’t crush the slices.

Step 3: Make the brine

1. In a large pot combine:
   • 2 cups white vinegar
   • 2 cups granulated sugar
   • 1 tbsp mustard seeds
   • 1 tsp celery seeds
   • 1 tsp ground turmeric
   • Optional: ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
2. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Step 4: Add cucumbers, bring back to boil

1. Add the drained cucumber-onion slices to the boiling brine.
2. Stir gently to coat.
3. Bring back to a boil — this happens fast, about 2-3 minutes. Do NOT boil long or the slices go soft.
4. As soon as the brine returns to a full boil, remove from heat and start jarring.

Step 5: Pack the jars

1. Have your water-bath canner simmering with enough water to cover jars by 2.5 cm.
2. Have hot jars ready, fresh SNAP lids on the counter.
3. Add ⅛ tsp Pickle Crisp to each hot jar.
4. Use a slotted spoon to pack hot cucumber-onion slices into hot jars. Pack snugly, leaving 2 cm of room at the top.
5. Pour hot brine over the slices, covering them completely and leaving 1.25 cm (½ inch) headspace.
6. Run the headspace tool down inside each jar to release air bubbles. Top up brine if needed.
7. Wipe rims clean. Apply fresh SNAP lids fingertip-tight.

Step 6: Process

1. Lower jars into the canner. Water should cover by 2.5 cm.
2. Bring water back to a rolling boil.
3. Process 500 mL jars for 10 minutes at sea level (verify with your Bernardin edition).
4. Adjust for altitude per our altitude-adjustments guide.
5. Cool 12-24 hours undisturbed on a towel.
6. Check seals.

If a jar doesn’t seal: the 24-hour rule applies.

Wait 2 weeks before eating

Like all pickles, bread-and-butter pickles need time. Two weeks is the minimum; four weeks gets peak flavour.

Storage

• Cool, dark, dry place at room temperature
• Best quality 12 months
• After opening: refrigerate, use within 1-2 months
• Inspect before opening — turmeric makes the brine slightly cloudy by design, but excessive cloudiness with off smell means spoilage

Variations

Bread-and-butter pickles with peppers

Add 1 thinly sliced green or red bell pepper to the salt-soak step. Adds colour variety and slight sweetness. Bernardin tested.

Spicy bread-and-butter

Increase red pepper flakes to 1 tsp per batch, or add 2-3 thinly sliced jalapeños to the salt-soak. The mustard-sweet base balances the heat well.

Zucchini bread-and-butter pickles

Substitute 2 kg of small zucchini (under 4 cm diameter) for the cucumbers. Salt-soak the same way. Zucchini holds shape better than people expect.

Mustard pickles (Maritime variant)

Add 2 tbsp prepared yellow mustard to the brine. Brine becomes yellow-orange and thicker. The classic Maritime Canadian church-supper version.

Refrigerator bread-and-butter pickles

Skip the water-bath processing entirely. Pack the cooked-and-jarred pickles into the fridge after step 5. Keeps 6-8 weeks refrigerated. Same flavour development timeline.

How to use

• On grilled cheese — the canonical pairing
• On burgers instead of dill pickle slices — sweeter and tangier
• In ham sandwiches with mustard and butter on rye bread
• In tuna or chicken salad — chopped fine
• Beside Sunday roast turkey or ham
• As a hot dog topping — sweeter than relish
• In potato salad — chopped, replaces relish
• In meatloaf glazes — sweet acidic counterpoint
• Straight from the jar — the standard Canadian-grandmother snack

Common problems

• Soft pickles. See why pickles go soft — five causes apply. For bread-and-butter specifically, the most common are: skipped salt-soak, sliced too thin, or boiled too long in step 4.
• Brine is dark / muddy. Old turmeric or too much turmeric. The colour should be golden-yellow not brown.
• Pickles are too sweet. You can reduce sugar to as low as 1.5 cups per 2 cups vinegar. Below that, food safety and texture both suffer.
• Brine separated in the jar. The mustard seeds and turmeric can settle. Shake gently before opening.
• Onion turned pink. Reaction between onion enzymes and acid; harmless.
• Jars didn’t seal. 24-hour rule.

Why they’re worth making

• Best gift pickle — even people who don’t like dill pickles love bread-and-butters
• Long shelf life — properly processed, 12 months+ stable
• Uses end-of-summer cucumbers when you can’t face another fresh-cucumber salad
• Heritage Canadian recipe — passed down through generations, especially in rural Ontario, the Maritimes, and Saskatchewan

Next steps

• How to make dill pickles in Canada — the savoury counterpart
• How to make dilly beans — same August harvest window
• Why pickles go soft — texture troubleshooting
• Canning altitude adjustments — required reading
• Best water-bath canner — equipment
• Water-bath canning pillar — broader method
• Coming next: corn relish, pickled jalapeños