Bread and Butter Pickles

9 medium pickling cucumbers, sliced 
2 onions, sliced
2 Tbs. salt
1 and 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp mustard seed
1/8 tsp cayenne (opt)
1/4 tsp turmeric (opt)
1/8 tsp ground cloves (opt)

Use fresh cucumbers; trim 1/8th inch of the blossom ends off, wash and slice. Slice onions. Mix vegetables with salt and let stand 1 hour. Drain, and rinse with 2 cups cold water, draining that water away too. Combine vinegar, sugar, celery and mustard seeds (and any other spices) in a pot and heat to boiling. Cook 3 minutes.
Pack vegetables into jars (2-3 pint wide-mouthed jars), add hot vinegar mixture, leaving 1/2″ headspace. Seal at once and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Cool and store.