The short version
Cucumber coins pickled sweet with onion, turmeric and mustard seed. They're the pickle that works like a jam — sweet enough to sit beside a sharp cheese, sour enough to cut fat. Underrated on a board precisely because everyone assumes pickles have to be sour.
What it is
Thin-sliced cucumbers and onions in a vinegar syrup with sugar, turmeric, mustard seed and celery seed. Usually crinkle-cut. The name comes from the Depression-era practice of eating them in bread-and-butter sandwiches.
- Taste
- sweet then sour, with mustard and celery seed behind
- Texture
- crisp coins, slightly softer than a dill
- Look
- golden-green crinkle-cut discs, flecked with seed and onion
The mechanism is sugar and acid arriving together. A dill pickle is pure acid, which is a blunt instrument beside cheese; bread-and-butters carry sugar as well, so they do what a chutney does — cut the fat and add sweetness in the same bite. That makes them the better pickle for a cheese-led board.
What it pairs with — and why
| Pair it with | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Aged cheddar | Sweet-sour against sharp and salty. This is the ploughman's arrangement with the chutney replaced by something crunchy. |
| Pimento cheese | The Southern pairing. Rich, sharp, creamy against sweet and crisp. |
| Black forest ham and cooked ham | Sweet pickle with salty pork is the sandwich logic, on a board. |
| Butter crackers | Salty and soft against sweet and crunchy. |
| Aged gouda | Caramel in the cheese meeting sugar and turmeric in the brine. |
| Fried chicken and burgers | Their native habitat, and worth knowing if the board is casual. |
Skip it with: pâté and French charcuterie. Those want cornichons — sharp, not sweet.
How to prep it for the board
- Drain and blot. The syrup is stickier than dill brine and spreads.
- Fan the coins or pile them in a small bowl.
- Serve 0.75 oz per person.
- Put them beside the cheddar, not the pâté.
- Serve cold.
- Use them as the sweet element if the board has no jam — they cover both jobs.
- Fix: too sweet? Buy a "spicy" or "sandwich stacker" version, which dial back the sugar.
What to buy
| Product | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Refrigerated bread and butter chips | Grocery, refrigerated section | Crunchier than shelf-stable. The default. |
| Wickles or Mt. Olive | Grocery | Widely available. Wickles are spicier and very good. |
| Spicy bread and butter pickles | Grocery, specialty | Chilli added. Excellent with cheddar. |
| Homemade | Make it | Cucumbers, onion, vinegar, sugar, turmeric, mustard seed. Ready in an hour, refrigerator pickle. |
| Pickled okra or green beans | Southern grocers | Different vegetable, similar sweet-sour treatment. |
Label check: turmeric and mustard seed should be in there — they're what make the flavour. Watch for high fructose corn syrup in cheap jars.
Skip: anything limp in the jar.
Quick FAQ
What are bread and butter pickles?
Sweet-sour cucumber coins pickled with onion, turmeric and mustard seed. Named for Depression-era bread-and-butter sandwiches.
Are they better than dill pickles on a cheese board?
For a cheese-led board, often yes — the sugar lets them work like a chutney as well as a pickle.
What cheese goes with bread and butter pickles?
Aged cheddar above all, plus aged gouda and pimento cheese.
Can I make them at home?
Yes — they're a refrigerator pickle, ready in about an hour and keeping for weeks.
How much per person?
About three-quarters of an ounce — four or five coins.
