49 Fun Facts About Pickle

What is a pickled cucumber called in Britain, Ireland, Australia and South Africa?

Gherkin is the everyday word in Britain, Ireland, Australia and South Africa; it comes from early modern Dutch gurken or augurken, meaning small pickled cucumber.

One hypothesis holds that cucumbers were first pickled around 2030 BC in the valley of which river?

The Tigris valley in Mesopotamia is the site named by this hypothesis, around 2030 BC, for cucumbers native to South Asia; a rival story credits labourers on the Great Wall of China.

Which Egyptian queen credited the pickles in her diet with her health and legendary beauty?

Ancient writers were already noting pickles' nutritional benefits thousands of years ago.

A 'kosher' dill gets its name from what?

The garlicky style of Jewish New York makers gives the kosher dill its name; the pickle is not necessarily kosher under dietary law, and generous garlic in the pickling liquid is its signature.

In New York deli terminology, what is a 'half-sour'?

A half-sour is one given a shorter stay in the brine, so it stays crisp and bright green, while a full-sour has fermented all the way through.

Pickling solutions typically have a pH of what or lower?

A pH of 4.6 or lower is the usual mark; below that threshold Clostridium botulinum cannot grow, which is why acidity and salt together keep pickles safe.

The word 'pickle' derives from a Middle Dutch or Low German word, pekel, meaning what?

Pekel meant brine or salt; in Middle English pikel first meant a spicy sauce served with meat or fish before it came to mean the preserved food.

Which type of microbe produces the acidity in naturally fermented pickles?

Vinegar is not needed in a true brine-fermented pickle.

Cornichons are small French pickles flavoured with vinegar and which herb?

Tarragon is the classic cornichon herb; the tiny, bumpy-skinned cucumbers are pickled in vinegar with tarragon, and often served alongside pâté and charcuterie.

Fanning's bread-and-butter variety, trademarked in 1923, is named after what?

Omar and Cora Fanning trademarked the name in 1923 after trading surplus small cucumbers with their grocer.

'Koolickles', dill pickles soaked in Kool-Aid, are a treat for children in which region?

The Southern United States, above all the Mississippi Delta, is koolickle country; cherry and fruit punch Kool-Aid are the favourite flavours, and the pickle flesh turns pink.

Fried dill pickles were popularised in 1963 by Bernell 'Fatman' Austin at a drive-in in which state?

Arkansas is the state: Bernell 'Fatman' Austin sold his fried dill pickles at the Duchess Drive-In in Atkins, which serves his secret recipe once a year at its Picklefest.

Which pickle brand, introduced in 1942, was founded by a Croat immigrant in Detroit?

Franjo Vlašić arrived in 1912 and started with a small creamery; the first pickle plant was in Imlay City, Michigan. Conagra bought the brand in 2018.

Which North Carolina firm lowers a glowing 3-foot pickle down a flagpole every New Year's Eve?

Mount Olive Pickle Company, in the town of Mount Olive, North Carolina, lowers its glowing pickle at 7 pm Eastern, midnight Greenwich Mean Time, into a pickle tank.

According to Christmas pickle tradition, what happens to the first person to find the pickle ornament?

An extra present or a lucky year is the finder's reward; the custom is billed as German, yet a 2016 YouGov poll found 91% of Germans had never heard of it.

Which Michigan town billed itself the Christmas pickle capital and held a pickle parade from 1992 to 2005?

Berrien Springs, in southwest Michigan, staged its Christmas pickle parade from 1992 to 2005; the ornament itself may date to the late 1800s, when Woolworth's imported German glass ornaments.

Which Korean pickled side dish is stored for winter in earthenware onggi jars buried in the ground?

Both Koreas have had kimchi-related traditions inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list, and a low-calorie 'space kimchi' flew with astronaut Yi So-yeon in 2008.

Which explorer took sauerkraut on his Pacific voyages to prevent scurvy?

James Cook stocked sauerkraut on his voyages from 1768 and reported almost no scurvy deaths; despite its German name, sauerkraut did not originate in Germany.

'Pickle Rick', the episode that won Rick and Morty its first Emmy, aired in which year?

2017 is the year: 'Pickle Rick' aired on 6 August 2017 as the third episode of season three; written by Jessica Gao, it took the 2018 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.

In the NFL's 2000 'Pickle Juice Game', the Eagles beat which team 41-14 in 109 °F heat?

The Dallas Cowboys lost 41-14 at Texas Stadium on 3 September 2000, the Eagles having drunk pickle juice beforehand to ward off cramps in the heat.

Umeboshi, the salty pickled 'plums' of Japan, are actually more closely related to which fruit?

Apricot is the closer relative: ume, Prunus mume, sits nearer the apricot than true plums; one umeboshi on white rice makes the flag-like 'Hinomaru' bento.

Piccalilli, the yellow British mustard pickle, was adapted from which country's pickles?

Hannah Glasse's 1758 recipe called it 'Paco-Lilla, or India Pickle'.

Rollmops are pickled fillets of which fish, rolled around a pickled cucumber or onion?

Pickled herring is eaten at midnight on New Year's Eve in Poland, Germany and parts of Scandinavia for luck.

Which Pennsylvania Dutch invention turns pickled eggs pink?

Adding beets is the Pennsylvania Dutch trick: eggs steeped in beet juice and vinegar become pink 'red beet eggs'; British pubs and chip shops sell the plain kind.

Japanese tsukemono are often pickled in a bed of what?

Rice bran is the bed: nukazuke vegetables are buried in a fermenting mash of roasted rice bran and salt called a nukadoko, which is turned by hand daily.

Giardiniera, the pickled vegetable relish, comes from which country's cuisine?

Italy is its home: giardiniera, 'from the garden', is an Italian relish of pickled peppers, celery, carrots and cauliflower; Chicago's spicy oil-packed version is called 'hot mix'.

Roughly what percentage of a cucumber is water?

Cucumbers are roughly 95% water by weight, which is why they are so low in calories; the Roman emperor Tiberius had them grown year-round for his table.

The Spanish brought cucumbers to the Americas in which year of the Columbian exchange?

1494 is the year: Columbus had cucumbers planted on Hispaniola during his second voyage, the first recorded in the Americas; centuries earlier Charlemagne had them grown in his gardens.

Which soaking treatment, using a calcium compound rather than salt brine, makes some pickles crisper?

Pickling lime, calcium hydroxide, is the treatment: the calcium firms the cucumbers' pectin for extra crunch, and it must be rinsed off thoroughly before the pickles are finished.

Takuan, the crunchy yellow Japanese pickle, is made from which vegetable?

Daikon radish is the base of takuan: whole roots are hung to dry in the sun until bendy, then pickled for months, emerging yellow and crunchy.

In some traditional recipes, what is placed in the jar and left in the sun to kick-start fermentation?

Slices of bread, usually rye, are dropped into the jar; the bread feeds the ferment with sugars and starch, so souring starts within a few days.

Which annual pickle-themed festival is held in Pittsburgh?

Picklesburgh, launched in 2015 by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, began on the Rachel Carson Bridge and is headlined by a giant inflatable flying pickle balloon.

Which future congressman helped invent pickleball on Bainbridge Island, Washington, in 1965?

Joel Pritchard, later a US congressman and Washington's lieutenant governor, improvised the game with friends Bill Bell and Barney McCallum; Washington made it the state sport in 2022.

Which company started out selling bottled horseradish before adding sauerkraut, vinegar and pickles?

Heinz began in 1869 with Henry J. Heinz bottling horseradish in clear glass; the '57 Varieties' slogan came in 1896, when the firm already sold more than 60 products.

'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers' was first published in which year?

1813 is the year: the tongue-twister appeared in John Harris's Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation, an alphabet book of alliterative rhymes published in London.

Per the New York Food Museum, Mesopotamians were pickling food as far back as when?

2400 BC is the date in the New York Food Museum's pickle timeline for Mesopotamian pickling, about four centuries before it has cucumbers being pickled there.

How salty is the brine for traditional fermented pickles, in grams of salt per litre?

20 to 40 grams of salt per litre, a 2-4% solution, is the traditional range: enough to hold off spoilage organisms yet mild enough for fermentation, so no vinegar is needed.

Which of these is the West Indian species, a close relative of the cucumber sometimes used for pickles?

Cucumis anguria, the West Indian species, bears small spiny fruits eaten young and pickled much like ordinary cucumbers, which are Cucumis sativus.

Which of these is a Chinese fermented cabbage said by some to date from the building of the Great Wall?

Suan cai, literally 'sour vegetable', is made by salting napa cabbage and letting it ferment for weeks; one legend has Great Wall labourers living on it.

A 'pickleback' is a shot of pickle juice chased after a shot of what?

Whiskey is the shot: the pickleback was popularised around 2006 at the Bushwick Country Club bar in Brooklyn, where a shot of Jameson was chased with pickle juice.

The stork mascot a pickle brand introduced in 1974 talks in the style of which comedian?

Groucho Marx is the model: the stork holds its pickle like Groucho's cigar and copies his wisecracking delivery, playing on the myth that pregnant women crave pickles.

In the UK, 'pickle' on its own usually means a sweet vinegary chutney such as which brand?

Branston Pickle, launched in 1922 and named after the Staffordshire village where it was first made, is the classic sweet chutney-style 'pickle' of the ploughman's lunch.

During World War II, what share of US pickle output did the government reserve for the military?

40% is the share: the US government set aside 40 percent of pickle production for the armed forces during World War II, pickles being cheap, salty and long-keeping.

Which Chicago-area pickle brand was the target of a merger the FTC blocked in 2002?

Claussen, made in Woodstock, Illinois, is sold uncooked from the chilled aisle; its 1992 ads showed a Claussen pickle snapping while a rival's merely bent.

Rassolnik, a Russian soup, combines pickled cucumbers and pearl barley with which meat?

Kidneys, usually veal or beef, are the classic meat: Leningrad-style rassolnik pairs them with pickled cucumbers and pearl barley; the dish is recorded from the 15th century under the name kalya.

Which vegetable gives şalgam, the tart purple-red Turkish drink, its colour?

Black carrot gives şalgam its deep purple-red colour; the drink is fermented from black carrots, turnip, bulgur and salt, and is the classic partner to Adana kebab.

Which food giant bought the stork-mascot pickle brand in 1978 and spun it off in 1998?

Campbell Soup bought the brand in 1978 and spun it off in 1998 as an independent foods company, which filed for Chapter 11 in 2001 before Pinnacle Foods took the brand.

In Cockney slang, what is the big vinegar-pickled gherkin sold at a fish and chip shop called?

A wally is the London chippy's big vinegar-pickled cucumber, fished from a giant counter-top jar alongside pickled onions, and the word is also Cockney for a fool.

Hamburger Stackers, launched in 1999 to cover a whole burger, were cut from cucumbers how long?

16 inches was the length of the specially bred cucumbers, which were also over three inches across, so a single slice could blanket a whole burger patty.