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
1. Drain and blot. The syrup is stickier than dill brine and spreads. 2. Fan the coins or pile them in a small bowl. 3. Serve 0.75 oz per person. 4. Put them beside the cheddar, not the pâté. 5. Serve cold. 6. Use them as the sweet element if the board has no jam — they cover both jobs. 7. 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.