Pickle in a Pouch Weekend Continued!

Tonight:  Hot Mama.  Hot Mama lived up to her name.  She was hot.  She made my lips burn a little.  Now, I love hot, but this was not a great flavor.  Good, not great.  It’s confession time.  I have had Hot Mama before.  She always gives me a bit of a stomach ache, but for some reason, I always think this time she won’t give me a stomach ache.  The good news, no stomach ache so far.  She shares many characteristics with her pickle in a pouch cousin, Gus.  Her coloring is the same, her texture, and of course the fact that she comes in a pouch.  Overall, I like her ok.  She is good once in awhile.  I couldn’t eat her all the time, otherwise I would have permanent heart burn.  I like her but she is not my favorite in the pouch category.

The reason Hot Mama doesn’t get more play on my regular rotation is that I really enjoy her but I am scared of the stomach ache.  Some people are generally scared of pickle in a pouch.  They have a bad rap.  I don’t know what people have against food that is sold in gas stations, but I think it is a common fear.  On road trips, Alberto will never eat at fast food places attached to gas stations.  I understand this in principle but when I am driving nine and a half hours across Kansas, with little choice, Alberto’s fear makes for an unhappy road trip companion.  I would rather eat at a gas station fast food place, than wait until we actually get to a decent sized town.   My hunger is worse that emergency bathroom stops.  If we don’t stop to eat, someone might get hurt!  I digress….

Since I have started this blog, I have goggled pickles and all different phrases relating to pickles.  I found one that ties into peoples’ fear of pickle in a pouch.  I ran across a video of a girl who is afraid of pickles.  The line that kills me in this video:  “Pickles are destroying my life.”  I think maybe I could argue that pickles could potentially destroy my life for completely different reasons.  Also, if you watch until the end you catch that Maury says one of the guests is afraid of mustard (okay weird) and the third one is afraid of birds.  Wait!  This is bad organization on Maury’s part.  There should be two shows, one for people who are afraid of vinegar based foods and one of people who are afraid of normal things like wildlife.  Even though it is obvious that Pickle Girl and I will never be friends, the video does make me sad for her.   Here is the video:  Pickle Girl.

I would also like to recommend you go see Ramona and Beezus if you have little kids.   It was cute.  If you read the books, you will appreciate the movie.  (I know, the books are better.)  You may say, what does Ramona have to do with a pickle blog?  Well, in the movie, Ramona’s dad calls her Pickle.  Not in a mean way, like the aforementioned pickle girl, but as a name of affection.  See, almost everything in life can be tied to pickles!  J  

It’s Pickle in a Pouch Weekend!!!!!

Who doesn’t love a pickle in a pouch?  You are at the gas station, and are struck by a sudden pickle craving?  Pickle in a pouch.  You want something that is easy to carry in your purse?  Pickle in a Pouch.  You need a pickle that will store well in a box under your desk?  Pickle in a pouch!  The most popular pickle in a pouch brand is Van Holten.  In 1898, Van Holten started as a company that sold vinegar and sauerkraut.  Around 1939, there was a demand that was not being met for individually wrapped pickles.  Van Holten saw this need and jumped on the opportunity, or at least that is my interpretation of their history.

Tonight: Garlic Gus.  Garlic Gus was very good.  All the pickle in the pouch products are so large that I think they can be a small meal!  The color is very green.  Not as pleasant green like a pickle that is organic, deli style or home pickled, but it reminds me of pickles from when I was little so I like it!  The pickle had a strong taste.  I would argue that it wasn’t the most  Garlicy pickle I have ever had.  Gus tastes like it was made with Garlic Salt or Garlic Powder as oppose to real garlic cloves.  I still think it was delicious!  Overall, thumbs up to Garlic Gus and he will definitely be stuck in my purse on occasion! 

My family loves pickle in a pouch.  As I was eating Gus, Alberto would not quit mooching!  Tonight I bought my supply of pickle in a pouch pickles for pickle in a pouch weekend and brought them home.  These pickles aren’t safe in my home.   I think there is a good chance I will have to go the store again to restock.  This house is full of pickle thieves. 

We can all thank my friend Dana for passing on today’s pickle news.  Yesterday a woman found a cheeseburger and a pickle in her car’s gas tank.  Here is the news story:  Police: Cheeseburger found in SC woman's gas tank.  Dana was sure that it was actually the pickle that did the $1,000 of damage to the car.  My only question is, who would waste a pickle like that?   Thank you Dana for providing this important news story, and more importantly thank you for always supporting my crazy eccentricities.  Dana gave me one of the most important tools I own, a pickle fork.  This pickle fork not only aids in getting the pickles out of the jar, but it is of course a novelty fork, so it is shaped like a pickle too.  Gifts like that have to be from the heart.  Thank you Dana.

LOTS about pickle chips....

Today’s pickle, is actually a pickle chip.  In addition to a nice sandwich topper, pickle chips make a good snack.  It is kind of like crackers or potato chips, but better for you.  Anyway, back to today’s pickle, Organic Kosher Sliced Dill Pickles by Woodstock Farms.  I was disturbed by the pickle jar.  There were white floaty things in the juice.  Now, usually with homemade pickles you see the garlic cloves and dill or whatever, but when you buy them at the store the juice doesn’t usually have anything unless it is packed with peppers.  Since these pickles were organic I thought I might be the salt, even though as salty as pickle juice is you usually don’t SEE the salt.  Maybe it is sea salt.  Well, it disturbed me enough I asked my daughter Claire to taste it.  Her verdict?  It is salt.  Although she told me she was unsure of what garlic taste is.

So after getting over my fear, that the pickles had some sort floatie that should not be there, I moved on and got my self a good number of slices.  The appearances of the slices is very pleasing.  They have a dark green skin and a light inside, like a good deli pickle.   The crunch of the pickle is also very good, which is sometimes harder to have with slices.  The flavor was good, not great, but a solid good.  They would fall into the, would buy again category, but not, gotta have them category. Grocery store Claussen pickles are about the same level and a touch cheaper.  They are organic though, which probably should add a plus in the Woodstock pickles’ column.

Now, let’s talk about the chip format in pickles.  Most people think of pickles chips for sandwiches or burgers.  I really like pickle chips to fry.  I have been to restaurants where they fry whole spears, but it is much easier to do that at home with the slices.  I also really like slices to mix into potato salads, macaroni salads, egg salad, etc.  I know what you are thinking.  You are saying to yourself, most of the times those creamy, horrible for you side dishes already have pickles.  I know, but it is not enough.  As I am eating my potato salad hoping for a small tiny nugget of pickle, I just think about how the rest of the ingredients are in the way.  Throw some pickle slices in there and you have a great dish that compliments the pickle!  Of course, you can always just snack on the pickle chips themselves.  It is actually a really good way to get a little pickle taste if you don’t want to sit down with a whole pickle. 

I guess it is also worth mentioning that these pickles had ridges.  As most of you probably know, not all pickles chips do have ridges.  It seems that kosher style pickles are more often crinkle cut and just regular old dills are smooth.  Does it affect the taste?  Probably not, but there does seem to be some allure to it.  (Also with potato chips and French fries too!)   During the spring I saw a Sonic Ad where they announced they had crinkle cut pickles.  It is even listed in the online description.  This is crazy to me.  I LOVE pickles.  When I order a sandwich, burger, whatever, always extra pickles.  I even have places where I know the pickles are better than others, but as long as I can remember it nothing to do with the cut of the pickle.  Who knew!?

Now beats on the other hand MUST be crinkle cut.

The First pickle (well sort of)

In case I didn’t make this clear I may eat more than one type of pickle a day.  I may even talk about more than one pickle a day. I am going to write about AT LEAST about one pickle a day.  The reason I start this entry with this little disclaimer is because I usually carry a few pickles in a baggie in my purse.  Usually to eat with my lunch and the ones I had with my lunch today are my old reliable, and since this blog is about new pickle experience, it will mostly not be my baggie pickles.  The lunch pickles were made by my neighbor, Kevin, who will get his own entry. 

So to support my project, my daughter, Claire and husband, Alberto thought they would visit Whole Foods and Sprouts to start me off.  The first pickle was Nathan’s Half Sours.  Nathan’s pickles are packed and sold by another pickle company called Hermann Pickle Company.  The interesting thing about the half sours is that they do NOT have vinegar in their ingredients.  Without the vinegar they are able to stay really crispy, which in my opinion is a good thing.  The sours are packed with garlic, which is definitely the dominate flavor.  Without the vinegar, I think these pickles taste course.  I don’t know how else to describe it.  (Please see my first entry where I confess that I am NOT a foodie.)  They are sour but not a pucker your lips sour.  The appearance is very pleasing.  They look like a tasty deli pickle.  The texture is much like an un-pickled cucumber.  For the most part, I don’t think the Nathan’s Half Sours will ever be in my regular pickle rotation, or in my baggie of purse pickles because if I wanted this taste I could just chew on garlic cloves that have been sitting in brine.  Sorry Nathan’s.  You still make an excellent hot dog though…

Just a reminder that Jersey Shore premiers this week on MTV.  I have not ever watched this show and the whole premise is pretty low brow for even me, who relishes bad TV.  I mention it because Snooki, the pickle loving reality star, said that while on a road trip she tried fried pickles in a bar in Savannah, GA.  She called it “a life changing experience.”  Therefore, Snooki, whose name apparently was not given to her by Jay and Silent Bob, has good taste.  I don’t know if it makes the show worth watching, but it makes it worth a shout out.

“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” Roald Dahl

As long as I can remember, I have always loved pickles.  If I could only eat one food the rest of my life it would be pickles.  I think my mother thought it was a phase, and the volume of pickles I consume just disgusts my father.  Lately I have found that as my children get older, I have more time on my hands, so, like most people living in the internet age, I thought I should start a blog.  I don’t have expertise in many things.  I couldn’t start a cooking blog, because that would end in three days after I posted the three recipes I know.  I couldn’t start a restaurant blog, because even though I love food, I am far from a foodie.  For a brief moment, I did think of starting a blog on being a dance mom but have decided to save that for a book that will psychologically scar my daughter.  So there was only really one subject left, pickles.

Now a pickle blog could be a silly project, but really, I am not an aspiring writer, I know I am not going to cure cancer, I don’t want to influence people. I just want the world to know their pickle options and maybe save them from buying a bad jar or two. J

The challenge—to eat as many different pickles as I can for 365 days.  Initially I was going to eat a new pickle every day, but my husband who is financing my project worried about the investment that would take, so I have decided that repeats are okay.  I am just going to eat at least one pickle or the equivalent of one pickle a day.  I will also discuss pickle products and articles on pickles.  So basically I want to have a one way conversation about pickles every day this year!