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49 free Pickle trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free pickle trivia questions with answers. This pickle trivia quiz brines the whole subject: how pickling works and why the pH matters, the ancient Mesopotamians who pickled cucumbers from India, what makes a dill 'kosher', the difference between a half-sour and a full-sour, why gherkin is a Dutch word and why cornichons taste of tarragon. It also covers the world's other great pickles, kimchi, sauerkraut, umeboshi, piccalilli, achar and pickled herring, and the American pickle culture of Vlasic, Mount Olive's New Year pickle drop, bread-and-butter pickles, fried pickles from Arkansas, Kool-Aid pickles, the Christmas pickle, Pickle Rick and the NFL's Pickle Juice Game. Easy questions suit family and food quizzes; the harder ones on origins and dates will test fermentation fans. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
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Q 01What is a pickled cucumber called in Britain, Ireland, Australia and South Africa?
Gherkin
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.
Q 02One hypothesis holds that cucumbers were first pickled around 2030 BC in the valley of which river?
The Tigris
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.
Q 03Which Egyptian queen credited the pickles in her diet with her health and legendary beauty?
Cleopatra
Ancient writers were already noting pickles' nutritional benefits thousands of years ago.
Q 04A 'kosher' dill gets its name from what?
The garlicky style of Jewish New York makers
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.
Q 05In New York deli terminology, what is a 'half-sour'?
One given a shorter stay in the brine
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.
Q 06Pickling solutions typically have a pH of what or lower?
4.6
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.
Q 07The word 'pickle' derives from a Middle Dutch or Low German word, pekel, meaning what?
Brine
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.
Q 08Which type of microbe produces the acidity in naturally fermented pickles?
Lactic acid bacteria
Vinegar is not needed in a true brine-fermented pickle.
Q 09Cornichons are small French pickles flavoured with vinegar and which herb?
Tarragon
Tarragon is the classic cornichon herb; the tiny, bumpy-skinned cucumbers are pickled in vinegar with tarragon, and often served alongside pâté and charcuterie.
Q 10Fanning's bread-and-butter variety, trademarked in 1923, is named after what?
Farmers bartering them for staples
Omar and Cora Fanning trademarked the name in 1923 after trading surplus small cucumbers with their grocer.
Q 11'Koolickles', dill pickles soaked in Kool-Aid, are a treat for children in which region?
The Southern United States
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.
Q 12Fried dill pickles were popularised in 1963 by Bernell 'Fatman' Austin at a drive-in in which state?
Arkansas
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.
Q 13Which pickle brand, introduced in 1942, was founded by a Croat immigrant in Detroit?
Vlasic
Q 21Umeboshi, the salty pickled 'plums' of Japan, are actually more closely related to which fruit?
Apricot
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.
Q 22Piccalilli, the yellow British mustard pickle, was adapted from which country's pickles?
India
Hannah Glasse's 1758 recipe called it 'Paco-Lilla, or India Pickle'.
Q 23Rollmops are pickled fillets of which fish, rolled around a pickled cucumber or onion?
Herring
Pickled herring is eaten at midnight on New Year's Eve in Poland, Germany and parts of Scandinavia for luck.
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.
Q 14Which North Carolina firm lowers a glowing 3-foot pickle down a flagpole every New Year's Eve?
Mount Olive
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.
Q 15According to Christmas pickle tradition, what happens to the first person to find the pickle ornament?
An extra present or a lucky year
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.
Q 16Which Michigan town billed itself the Christmas pickle capital and held a pickle parade from 1992 to 2005?
Berrien Springs
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.
Q 17Which Korean pickled side dish is stored for winter in earthenware onggi jars buried in the ground?
Kimchi
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.
Q 18Which explorer took sauerkraut on his Pacific voyages to prevent scurvy?
James Cook
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.
Q 19'Pickle Rick', the episode that won Rick and Morty its first Emmy, aired in which year?
2017
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.
Q 20In the NFL's 2000 'Pickle Juice Game', the Eagles beat which team 41-14 in 109 °F heat?
Dallas Cowboys
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.
Q 24Which Pennsylvania Dutch invention turns pickled eggs pink?
Adding beets
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.
Q 25Japanese tsukemono are often pickled in a bed of what?
Rice bran
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.
Q 26Giardiniera, the pickled vegetable relish, comes from which country's cuisine?
Italy
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'.
Q 27Roughly what percentage of a cucumber is water?
95%
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.
Q 28The Spanish brought cucumbers to the Americas in which year of the Columbian exchange?
1494
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.
Q 29Which soaking treatment, using a calcium compound rather than salt brine, makes some pickles crisper?
Pickling lime
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.
Q 30Takuan, the crunchy yellow Japanese pickle, is made from which vegetable?
Daikon radish
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.