Making Bread and Butter Pickles

My kids love making pickles with me.  The easiest to make with them as a project are the Bread and Butter Pickles. These are milder pickles that can be made without being boiled and sealed so there is less danger to kids. There is no real hassle and there are plenty of recipes online for these pickles.

Bread and Butter Pickles are some of the most misunderstood of the pickles as they are often mistaken for their more garlicky and dill flavored look-alikes – the Dill Pickle. This is because dill pickles are also sold as coins, slices and half pickles. A major difference in terms of packaging is that a bread and butter pickle will rarely be sold whole like dill pickles are when you see them in the jars in the store.

The main characteristic of a bread and butter pickle is that it looks like a dill pickle but tastes more like a sweet pickle. However it is not as sweet as a true sweet pickle.  A true sweet pickle almost tastes like sugar. They can hurt your teeth. Bread and Butter pickles are a little healthier for the kids and easier to eat as far as I am concern.

Bread and butter pickles are the preference of people who don't like pickles with overpowering garlic or dill flavoring or a very sweet pickle. I know that my kids simply cannot stand any food that is way too garlicky and I don't blame them. Their taste buds have yet to develop.  Bread and butter pickles are neutral pickles and go great in sandwiches because taste-wise they do not steal the show.  You can put them in everything from a salmon salad to ham sandwich to a hamburger and their taste will not overpower what you are eating. You cannot necessarily say the same of the garlicky pickles.

In England it is very common to be served bread and butter pickles for high tea.  There is even such a thing as a bread and butter pickle tea sandwich. However bread and butter pickles go the best with a slice of mild cheese on white bread.

Use bread and butter pickles in any dish where you don't want the flavor of the pickle to overpower everything else. For instance, diced bread and butter pickles go better in tuna and chicken salad or even coleslaw.  Another reason I like them is that they are small and coin shaped. This means it is easy for a toddler to hold in his or her hand.  A toddler holding a full dill pickle can be a messy sight sometimes.

As bread and butter pickles are milder in taste then other types then they might also be easier on the sensitive taste buds of children.

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The Yogurt and Yeast Infection Connection

You have probably heard about the traditional remedy of spooning yogurt into the vagina to cure yeast infections. It seems so messy. Yet so many women get yeast infections during pregnancy, after sex and just from being too busy and suffering stress. We need to deal with it somehow and without taking antibiotics.
Thankfully a solution has been found for this in the form of vaginal acidophilus inserts. These look a lot like the bullet shaped anti-fungal medications that you are usually prescribed for these conditions.
These tablets, which you can buy in health food stores, should be kept in the refrigerator as they contain friendly bacteria that can help cure your infection.
You can insert them manually with your fingers. Many come as a kit complete with a plunger style insertion device. If you have had lots of yeast infections then you will know what this implement looks like as antifungal medications are also often applied this way s well.
The insertion of these medicines can help greatly soothe the pain and irritation of the infection and help repopulate the vagina with the bacteria it needs to be healthy.
Lactobacillus acidophilus is a bacterium present in both the vaginal, and gastrointestinal tract; it is important in controlling vaginal pH and maintaining a healthy balance in the vaginal ecosystem.
It is not enough to just eat these helpful bacteria. You also need to also have the vagina make contact with it.
Age, infections, antibiotic use, douching, and many other factors can interfere with lactobacilli, upsetting the delicate balance and predisposing women to overgrowth of yeast and “bad” bacteria.
There have been several studies showing that regular ingestion of acidophilus, specifically in the form of yogurt with “active cultures,” decreases vaginal yeast and bacterial infections.
Acidophilus is also available in supplement form through capsules and powders. The powdered form, which is mixed with water, is the most effective but also the least tasty.
Give me an eight-ounce container of low-fat yogurt any day! But read the label: Not all brands of yogurt contain live and active cultures of lactobacillus acidophilus.
You should also not eat yogurts that have a lot of sugary fruits or flavorings in them. This is on the bad list of foods.
The truth is that eating the yogurt and also employing the supplements goes a long way towards reinforcing the positive bacteria in your gut so that it can thrive again and improve digestion.
When you look for yogurt or yogurt supplements look for the term probiotic on the label. The term “probiotic” is used to describe organisms that are used medicinally, including bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and yeast such as Saccharomyces boulardii
Acidophilus does have other health benefits. It helps prevent infection with some intestinal bugs, and seems to slightly improve general immune system function. This of course is of great use to people who have been taking the antibiotics for years and finding their immune systems compromised.

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