[Ads-l] bread-and-butter pickles

[Barretts Mail]

Very nice citations!

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickled_cucumber <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickled_cucumber>) gives a reason for the name: "The story attached to the name is that the Fannings survived rough years by making the pickles with their surplus of undersized cucumbers and bartering them with their grocer for staples such as bread and butter.”

In the below citation, Ziedrich says she suspects this story is merely apocryphal and cites a 1929 article that says the pickles were “extensively eaten with bread and butter."

The Joy of Pickling, 3rd Edition: 300 Flavor-Packed Recipes for All Kinds of Produce from Garden or Market
By Linda Ziedrich
https://tinyurl.com/vukzo7k <https://tinyurl.com/vukzo7k>

Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
Formerly of Seattle, WA

> On 29 Nov 2019, at 16:32, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Here is a match in Illinois in 1923.
> 
> Date: October 12, 1923
> Newspaper: Streator Daily Free Press
> Newspaper Location: Streator, Illinois
> Article: (Advertisement for Purcell's)
> Quote Page 16, Column 1
> Database: Newspapers.com
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39816734/purcellfanning/
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> Fanning's Bread and Butter Pickles 35c Bottle
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Garson
> 
> On Fri, Nov 29, 2019 at 7:12 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Excellent work, Peter and everyone.
>> Here is a slightly earlier citation in 1925. "Fanning" is incorporated
>> into the name of the product.
>> 
>> Date: February 6, 1925
>> Newspaper: The Cedar Rapids Gazette
>> Newspaper Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
>> Article: (Advertisement for Denecke's Grocery)
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39815008/fanningpickles/
>> 
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Fanning Bread and Butter Pickles.........jar 39c
>> [End excerpt]
>> 
>> Garson
>> 
>> On Fri, Nov 29, 2019 at 11:49 AM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 1925 is the earliest I've seen.
>>> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39778735/lincoln_journal_star/
>>> 
>>> 
>>> This one gives him the credit.
>>> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39779118/sterling_daily_gazette/
>>> 
>>> While this one shows she took multiple, extended business trips related to her bread and butter pickle business.
>>> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39778647/the_times/
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Sent: Friday, November 29, 2019 7:54:19 AM
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Subject: Re: bread-and-butter pickles
>>> 
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: bread-and-butter pickles
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> Do those citations show that the name came about before the Great =
>>> Depression? BB
>>> 
>>>> On 28 Nov 2019, at 21:52, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>> =20
>>>> The "Bread and Butter"pickle appears to have been invented by Mrs. =
>>> Omar Fanning, the former Cora Eades, of Streator, Illinois in the =
>>> mid-1920s.  Mr. Fanning raised cucumbers and his wife and mother in law =
>>> pickled smaller waste cucumbers.  People liked them and they built a =
>>> successful business out of it, the Fanning Bread and Butter Pickle =
>>> Company.
>>>> =20
>>>> Some early articles refer to her famous bread and butter pickles.  =
>>> Later articles credit them with inventing the pickles of that name.
>>>> =20
>>>> The earliest examples (1925 and 1926) are specifically their pickles.
>>>> ________________________________
>>>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of =
>>> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2019 11:19:12 AM
>>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Subject: Re: bread-and-butter pickles
>>>> =20
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header =
>>> -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> Subject:      Re: bread-and-butter pickles
>>>> =
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>> -----
>>>> =20
>>>>> The OED and Merriam-Webster do not list it.
>>>> =20
>>>> That's quite surprising! I've been familiar with the term since early
>>>> childhood, so that I've never wondered what the origin of it might be. =
>>> It
>>>> would have been like wondering what the meaning of _is_ is.
>>>> =20
>>>> On Thu, Nov 28, 2019 at 11:19 AM Barretts Mail =
>>> <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> =20
>>>>> I made bread-and-butter pickles this year for the first time. I used =
>>> my
>>>>> grandmother=3DE2=3D80=3D99s recipe and wondered about the name, which =
>>> I saw use=3D
>>>> d on some
>>>>> pickles at the grocery store.
>>>>> =20
>>>>> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bread-and-butter_pickle <
>>>>> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bread-and-butter_pickle>) says its a =
>>> sweet
>>>>> pickle used in sandwiches. The OED and Merriam-Webster do not list =
>>> it.
>>>>> =20
>>>>> According to Cottage at the Crossroads (
>>>>> https://cottageatthecrossroads.com/bread-and-butter-pickles/ <
>>>>> https://cottageatthecrossroads.com/bread-and-butter-pickles/>), the =
>>> name
>>>>> comes from the Depression when they were used on bread-and-butter
>>>>> sandwiches, which were a cheap meal.
>>>>> =20
>>>>> That recipe uses onion, vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed and
>>>>> turmeric, all of which are in my grandmother=3DE2=3D80=3D99s recipe =
>>> (which also=3D
>>>> includes
>>>>> bell pepper).


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