Not a mushy love story

My tolerance for mush is variable.  If the pickle is homemade and has a good flavor I will overlook some mushiness, partially because there will also be some inconsistency.  When the pickle is mass produced I do not like the mush!  Blah!  Today I ate Safeway generic dill pickle.  I had the sand which stacker because I have found that with a less quality brand of pickle, the stackers and the slices have a tendency to taste a little better.  Well, this was NOT true.  MUSH, pure mush.  They were so gross!  In addition I thought they would taste like a generic, whatever, type of pickle, but they did not!  They had a bitter aftertaste!  YUCK.  Also, usually pickles I don't like, my kids will eat...nope!!!!  They didn't like them either!  That is a bad pickle!  The best thing about this pickle is the whimsical looking generic label!

Like I said, I do buy sandwich stackers on a regular basis.  Two reasons: 1.  If the pickle has a good taste but bad texture it is a work around that scenario.  2.  It is easier to get more pickle flavor on  your sandwiches!  I think Vlasic came up with the sandwich stacker.  They were the first company to mass market them.  I guess it was in response to the whole stacking trend around the country.  Stacker, the diet drug, Stacker the video game, diet Stackers and my personal favorite stacker, the cup stacker.

When Claire was in elementary school they announced that in P.E. they sent out a note that they were doing cup stacking.  As a matter of fact they even had an after school class that was all about cup stacking.  I thought this was totally bizarre!  Cup Stacking, also known as speed stacking, didn't really seem like a PE appropriate activity to me!  Apparently it improves your hand eye coordination.  When I was in school PE was just about running ladders until you thought you were going to pass out.  Anyhow, here is a little history and information on Speed Stacking

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_stacking

Well, I was really impressed when watching the kids do it.  I thought this was just training for their future wait staff positions, but it really does seem to take some speed and some type of coordination.  I am not still not sure it belongs in PE since all we do is complain about how fat our kids are doing, but it looks impressive none the less.  Here is a video

Just a cool story

The artist sees himself as a pickle.  You gotta dig that!

Pickles on a pedestal at gherkin exhibition

Dill Relish

I had some Vlasic Dill Relish today.  I like dill relish.  It was something I did not find until I was an adult.  I am not sure it was readily available in Idaho when I was growing up.  I remember I would eat sweet relish, but didn't really enjoy it.  I always wondered why there wasn't dill relish for hot dogs.  Dill pickles and hot dogs were always good as a kid, but it would have been easier just to spoon some relish on the hot dog instead of sticking a whole pickle in the bun.  Anyway, you can buy dill relish everywhere.  I have already tried the Bubbies, which I loved, my husband hated, and now I am going to talk about Vlasic.

My family does like Vlasic dill relish.  Alberto, Claire and Jacob will all have a spoonful or two as a little pickly snack!  Vlasic is just an average brand that is widely available in grocery stores.  They do make all sorts and shapes of different kinds of pickles, and they are in expensive.  The Vlasic family actually started out in the milk and cheese business and then Joe Vlasic started selling pickles.  As is with pickles of the time, they were sold out of a barrel.  During WW II the pickles were drying up so Joe started selling them out of a jar!  The most interesting fact I learned about the Vlasic pickle company is that in 1933 per capital pickle consumption was 2.09 pounds and by 1974 it grew to 8 pounds!  (I assume this was by year, but it didn't say.)  I wonder how many pounds of pickles I eat a year.  Back to the relish....

The good part about this relish is that it is JUICY!  It will satisfy my need for pickle juice with out having to drink the juice.  The downsides are that the relish can be a little mushy and there is nothing super special about the flavor.  It is like eating at a chain restaurant.  Usually consistent so you know what you are getting but nothing unique.

Of course you can make your own Dill Relish.  Here is a fun recipe to try:

• 8 pounds pickling cucumbers
• Canning and Pickling Salt
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 quart water
• 1 pound yellow onions
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons dill seed
• 1 quart white wine vinegar

Prepare jars and closures.

Wash cucumbers; drain. Remove 1/16-inch from blossom and stem ends of cucumbers. Finely chop cucumbers in a food processor or food grinder. Place chopped cucumbers in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and turmeric. Pour water over cucumbers; let stand 2 hours. Peel and finely chop onions. Drain cucumbers. Rinse under cold water; drain. Combine cucumbers, onions, sugar, dill seed and white wine vinegar in a large saucepot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Carefully ladle hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim clean. Place lid on jar with sealing compound next to glass. Screw band down evenly and firmly just until a point of resistance is met - fingertip tight.

Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Increase time for altitude per chart at the bottom of this page

Admitting defeat

I opened my refrigerator today and realized that I had no new pickles to try.  I am not going to be able to eat a new pickle every day.  I just can't.  Besides the fact Alberto was right and we would go broke buying pickles, there are some practical ramifications too.  For example, we currently have 7 or eight jars of pickles in the fridge and this is after I started combining the pickles.  I eat pickles everyday, but even in doing so, I can't eat all the pickles out of every jar.  When I thought this experiment out, I also thought about how much we eat out and how I could review the pickles we eat out too.  Well, since I started the blog we also decided we are going to cut spending so we aren't eating out like we use to!  

Here is my new promise.  I will write, everyday.  (By the way, sometimes entries are not being posted the same day.)  I will of course write about pickles and pickle related products and review as many pickles as I can.  Since I am a failure, I am posting the link to the Epic Fail blog.  It makes my failure not seem so bad.

http://failblog.org/

Dad, this one's for you...

One of my family's favorite meals is make your own pizzas.  Sometimes we make one pizza and other times we take English muffins and make individual pizzas.  On occasion I have put pickles on my pizza.  I told my father this one night and he was so grossed out.  I just wanted to posted this link to show him, I am NOT the only one.

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/05/pickle-pizza-dhorst-goes-there.html

If anyone is wondering, it mostly makes your pizza really salty.  It isn't my favorite pickle dish, but it is decent!  :)

Sodium and the 5k

Saturday, Claire and I walked (Claire did a little running) the Holy Cow Stampede 5k.  By the end of the race my hands were balloons they were so swollen.  This happens to a lot of people as you are walking and/or running but my hands were HUGE!   It finally occurred to me that eating half a jar of pickles the night before probably exacerbated this problem!  Pickles are low in calories, but they are high in sodium as most people know, so it probably caused the swelling in my hands to be even worse.  I was discussing this at a party on Saturday night and my friend, Carrie Sargent, pointed out there is something like 280 mg of sodium per pickle!  Even though I know Carrie is a smart girl I thought I would verify this figure and what I found was typically it is even MORE sodium than Carrie's estimate.  A medium sized pickle can have up to 800 mg of sodium.  Wow!  That is probably not good.  Since I am getting old, I thought I probably should be watching my sodium intake more, so I googled low sodium pickles.  I mean, they have low sodium soy sauce, they must have a low sodium alternative for pickle obssesors, such as myself.  I found a couple of brands that sell them, including Rick's Picks Slices of life and there was even a no salt added pickle, that has been discontinued on the Heart Wise website.  Mostly what I found, is that there are recipes for low sodium pickles.  I am guessing I need to try to make some.  If anyone out there has had a low sodium pickle or knows of another brand, please let me know!

While searching out 5k's for the next time, I thought it would be fun to find one in conjunction with pickles.  Since there are a few pickle festivals around the country maybe there are some pickle races.  I only found one in Philadelphia and it appears to be a private event.  I guess I will have to work on getting an invite for next year.  Here is the description I got off the Pickle Club website"

Tim Krueger is the organizer of one of the craziest running traditions that I’ve ever heard of. Tim owns a race timing company and somehow got the idea to hold a 5k Pickle run in the months of January, February and March. (He does other pickle runs for special occasions such as Mardi Gras and July 4th.)

From what I understand, essentially the runners are called picklers and they run while searching for these homemade decorated pickles. They then award the winners of the race with gifts that Tim can pay no more than a $1 for. The runners keep these decorated pickles that they found and the next day participate in ‘play with your pickle day’ which entails hanging out with your pickle and taking photographs. And then, as if that weren’t enough, these picklers (aka runners) take their pickles to work that following Monday and hang out with them - including taking photos! Sound intriguing? Well, pack your bags and head to Philly!

I think I need to start a fund so I can have pickle related travel! 

Horseradish and Hermit Crabs

Today’s pickle is Whalen’s Horseradish and Garlic Pickles.    Whalen’s is a company that specializes in Horseradish;  Whalen’s is still a small business that hand grounds its horse radish.  I know there are a lot of horseradish pickles out there, but these are dills and a lot of the more common horseradish varieties are actually sweet pickles.  (Nathan’s has yet another pickle I need to try.)  They are located in NY state and don’t widely distribute.  You can get their products at a few stores near Saratoga Springs, NY or online.  If you are curious about the taste, do it!  These pickles are scrumptious!    The brine has horseradish in it.  I have finished one of the two jars I ordered.  I want to save the brine, but I am unsure what I would do with it.  If it had a lot of other spices I could throw it in a dish, but I am not sure what to do with brine that is overwhelmingly full of horseradish.  I will have to contemplate that for a few days. I do know that when we can our own pickles I am going to do a horseradish jar or two!  I probably won’t grind my own horseradish, but hopefully my horseradish pickles will be at least partially satisfying.  They are not quite as hot as I expected, but I love them!  Here is a video of how the horseradish is made when Whalen’s was featured on Roker on the Road.  I enjoyed this little human interest story.

Roker on the Road: Whalen's Horseradish.

You can see from the title of my blog that I am going to talk about Hermit Crabs.  Hermit Crabs are the hottest pet in our neighborhood.  Today, Alberto got a text message from Claire asking if she could buy a hermit crab while she was making a PetCo run with my neighbor.  She texted Alberto with this question, because Alberto is far more likely to say yes than I am, but much to my relief he said, “ no”, or at least not now.  Sadly, another one of our neighbors decided that our kids really needed hermit crabs, so we are now the pet owners of two hermit crabs.  Jacob’s hermit crab, Sharkey, has already pinched a little girl in the neighborhood.  :sigh:  Oh well, maybe the new additions to our family will eat pickles and give me something to write about….

Dilly dally...

Tonight I made Beef Dilly sandwiches in the crock pot.  Basically you take a beef roast, throw in a can of tomatoes, an onion, some garlic and a small jar of pickle chips.  When Alberto and Claire heard this recipe they both told me they were eating out.  Much to everyone’s surprise it was very good.  I did alter the recipe a little.  I didn’t use as much garlic as the recipe said and I used a bigger jar of pickles and added a couple sprigs of dill.  Next time I think I will add more garlic and possibly add a stronger pickle.  Even Jacob liked it.  He did add more pickles to his meat.  There is no mistaking he is my son.

In non pickle related news, Jacob had back to school night tonight.  He starts Kindergarten in 4 days.  Two things happened tonight that made me really proud.  The first, he is ready for kindergarten, he even wants to walk into class by himself.  Second, he asked to drink some pickle juice when he got home!  I love that kid.

Did you know they actually bottle pickle juice?  The whole concept freaks me out.  I do realize that I drink juice from the jar, but that is different.  Something about putting it in a plastic bottle and calling it a  sports drink, does not sit well with me!  It is suppose to eliminate muscle cramps.  I would think because it is salty it would also dehydrate you, but I don’t know.   You can buy it in stores in Texas and probably other places too, but there is no where close to me that carries it.  I guess I will have to eventually order some through the mail.  If I keep ordering pickles and pickle related products through the mail, we are probably going to go broke.  Oh well, anything for pickles! 

Maybe One More Try...

Tonight I tried Nathan’s Kosher Dills.  Maybe you remember I wasn’t crazy about the half sours.  Well, I decided to try something more traditional.  Afterall, I REALLY like Nathan’s hotdogs, so I think the pickles deserve another shot.  Well, they were okay.  Not great.  A typical kosher deli pickle.  The color was pleasing and the taste was garlicky, which I love, but they were not super crisp.  In fact, they were a little on the mushy side.  When you expect a little mushy that is okay, but when you think they are going to be snap crisp, it is disappointing.  Sorry Nathans, I will still eat your hotdogs.

I googled mushy pickles.  It seems the most common problem is over ripe cucumbers.  Some people argue there are certain breeds of cucumbers that make mushy pickles no matter when the harvest.  I wish I knew a farmer who grew pickling cucumbers.  I would like to be an expert on this.  I would argue the taste can make up for texture a bit, but if a pickle is to the true mushy state, no taste can make up for too mushy.

Tonight is the last late weeknight for me.  Claire goes back to school Friday, so I will need to go to bed earlier.  I hoped to have a pickle cocktail before summer was up but now I am too late.  I guess I will have to try my pickle infused alcohol in the fall or winter.  There is actually a drink called the Fickle Pickle.  Here is the recipe:

Quantities for one drink:

·         3/4 oz Vodka

·         3/4 oz Midori® Melon Liqueur

·         1/4 oz Crown Royal® Canadian Whisky

·         1/2 oz Triple Sec

·         Sweet And Sour Mix

• Pour the vodka, Midori melon liqueur, Crown Royal whisky and triple sec into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes
• Add sweet and sour mix to taste
• Shake well
• Strain into a highball glass, garnish with a cherry flag, and serve

As you can see there is no pickle juice in this drink, therefore, it is not exactly what I am talking about, but it is a tasty summer drink, none the less!

Daddies turn!

When my son, Jacob was younger we use to play a silly game called bumbie.  Someone would start by chanting bumbie for a while then proclaim whoever would chant bumbie next.   It was great fun.  Okay, maybe not GREAT fun, but when you are entertaining a two and a half year old, you will be amazed at what games you invent.

So tonight I ate some Bubbies dill relish.  (Bubbies, reminded me of Bumbie, hence the random story.)  Bubbies was founded in 1982, which was a little confusing to me because the photographs on the website look like they are from the thirties, therefore the only conclusion that a person can come to, is that it was founded by old people.  One of the things I like about the Bubbies Company is that they have a green car they call the Bubbiemobile.  

Another good thing about Bubbies is that they are gluten free.  There are a lot of food allergies and I would like to believe the people who suffer from these can eat a good pickle.   I really enjoyed this relish, it was pretty salty and really garlicy.  YUM!  My husband on the other hand did not like them.  Too much garlic he thought.  My particular jar was prepared in Canada.  That also gave this jar of 

relish points, because I love Canada!

In all seriousness, Bubbie is the Yiddish word for Grandma.  I like that.  My late Grandmother fully supported my pickle habit.  She always had pickles.  She would also reuse the juice and pickle eggs.  Not in a nasty way like a bar does when they aren’t refrigerated, but a less offensive, but probably still gross way, in the refrigerator.   I use to think my Grandmother’s biggest flaw is that she liked sweet pickles as well as dill pickles.  She was a big believer in the relish tray for every holiday.  My husband did not know that no matter what the family dinner, you were supposed to serve pickles.  He has now learned.  I wonder what my Grandma would say about my pickle blog.  I think she would enjoy it as long as she didn’t ever have to read it during an Atlanta Braves game.  I love my Bubby!  

A Plain Jane sort of dill day

Today I ate some plain Jane dills from Mt. Olive.  Not Kosher dills, just plain, which are not always easy to find.  I like these pickles.  They are always tasty in a pinch.  I know what to expect and surprisingly for $2 a jar they are pretty good!  Mt Olive pickles are made in Mt. Olive, North Carolina.  For such a non-gourmet pickle they have a pretty nifty website.    In the Southeast Mt Olive’s pickle share is approaching 70%, which normally would be a strike against them, but the fact they have little cups of pickles, that look like jello cups and are a fairly consistent dill, I will overlook this success.  (Apparently, I don’t believe in the American dream.)

Mt Olive also co-founded the North Carolina Pickle Festival.  At the pickle fest, you can obtain free pickles!  Who doesn’t love free pickles?   Earlier today my family was talking about a vacation in Canada for the summer.  I am now thinking I need to talk them into taking a vacation in North Carolina.  J

In writing today’s blog entry I googled pickle festivals to see if I could visit a local pickle festival near me.  Surprisingly, there are no pickle festivals in Colorado.  There are at least five in this country and NONE of them are in Colorado.  This is slightly appalling to me, so I got a wild hair and thought I would plan my own pickle festival.  I can imagine it would be wildly popular and put Westminster, Colorado on the map!  Free pickle samples, pickle candy, pickle rides, pickle paraphernalia….oh the possibilities.  Then I remembered, I don’t even like to plan a holiday party each year, so maybe I will wait until someone else brings the pickle party to Colorado!

Today I am going to talk about Wickles pickles.  Wickles Pickles bills itself as "A Wickedly Delicious Pickle."  Delicious, yes, wickedly delicious, probably not so much.  This probably goes back to the fact that I don't love sweet pickles.  These pickles, like Famous Dave's are sweet with a little spice.  I do like the contrast.  Sweet with spicy is much better than just sweet.  What I don't like about Wickles is that they are not very crisp.  So the texture does not get a good grade in my book!

This jar of pickles, I again shared with my neighbors.  Overall they really liked them.  My next door neightbor, Steve, is a pickle fan like me and he enjoyed them.  He didn't mention anything about the texture bothering him, so maybe I am just picky.  The neighbors did agree that the pickles did not go well with the red wine I was drinking.  I think pickles go better with a white.  I have tried to figure out what wines go best with pickles in general and when I read up on the subject most experts say none really do.  The smell is too strong of vinegar, the taste is too strong, etc.  Beer is suppose to be the alcoholic beverage you drink with pickles.  I do not like this one bit.  I think a nice Sauvignon Blanc is fine with pickles.  (My father, if he is reading this, is gagging right now.  He never found my pickle pairings appetizing.)  I guess I need to find a nice winter wine that will go with pickles too.  That will be my goal over the fall months.

In my quest to find a wine and pickle pairing I discovered Zappa's old Guitarist, Mike Keneally has an album called "Pickles and Wine."  Here is a song from that album:


 

No Pickle Today

Today my family and I went down to Pearl Street in Boulder and stopped by a candy store.  Lo and behold, what was inside but dill pickle mints.  These mints are made by the Artie McPhee company, a company that seems to specialize in gag gifts and silly products.  Quite honestly, the mints scared me a little.  Turns out the Artie Mcphee company also has an actual physical retail store as well.  In addition to pickle mints they sell other pickles products like pickle picks (toothpicks) and pickle soap.  Artie McPhee also carries a lot of things that are not pickle related such as bacon paraphernalia.  Next time I am in Seattle, Washington, I am definitely going to visit this place!

After sticking the scary pickle mints into my purse and debating for about an hour as to whether I would really eat them, I finally opened the tin.  Let me start by saying I love mints.  When you are a daily pickle eater, such as myself, and work in a public place, you either need to have immediate access to teeth brushing or you need to like mints and/or gum.  So, in addition to the pickles I usually keep in my purse, I keep mints too.  Despite the fact that I do enjoy a good mint, I was not so sure dill mint was a good idea.  Much to my surprise, they were okay.  Not great, but not gag worthy.  The dill flavor was the strongest part of the mint.  The actual mint part was very mild.  These interesting, more than one and a half calorie breath mints, would probably not actually freshen your breath.  If you need something to suck on because you are bored, the dill pickle mints will do the trick.  They sound weird, but don’t be afraid, they are pretty close to harmless.  If you happen to see a tin, pick them up!

So no new pickle to review today, just the mints.  I need to think of a new way to get a hold of pickles.  Maybe start reviewing different restaurant pickles, pickles at street fairs, etc.  The jars I am buying are starting to take over my house.  Alberto loves to complain about the pile of books I insist must stay next to my bed.  He may not like the fact we have to buy a second fridge just for pickles.  J  

Dog Cones and Fry Sauce everyone!

So my dog is wearing the cone of shame.  If you have a dog you know the one I am talking about, the one that does not allow them to lick themselves.  You may ask what that has to do with pickles.  Well, nothing really.  Gilmore just looks silly and I am a little sad he had minor surgery on his paw.

So tonight I ate Heinz hot dog relish.  Now, Heinz is a huge company, probably most famous for its ketchup.  As a result, I was not super excited about the relish.  I figured it was going to be run of the mill, nothing special relish.  The idea of this product is relish and mustard into one.  It is okay.  I am not a huge fan of sweet relish, but once mixed with the mustard it has enough vinegar base in it that it fills my need for vinegar based condiments.  Let me add, I also really enjoy mustard so when you put two vinegar based foods together, I am a pretty happy camper.  I have always wondered if I suffer from vinegar deficiency, which would explain my love of not only pickles, but mustard and buffalo wing sauce.  On a scale from 1-10 I give this relish a solid 5.  It would just be much better if the mustard was mixed with some sort of dill relish.

Now, the premixed concept makes me laugh.  I understand that we live in a world of convenience.  Gone are the days where people have time to put their peanut butter and jelly on their sandwich.  They have to get one jar to save time.  This relish is the same concept.  My only question is if you don’t like the ratio of premixed products do you add more of one product.  If you buy the peanut butter and jelly mix and want more jelly, do you supplement?

One of my personal favorite pre-mixed products is fry sauce.  For all my friends who live in Idaho and Utah, I do not need to explain.  To the rest of the world, fry sauce is a premixed ketchup and mayo combo that is packaged and called fry sauce.  When I was little you could only get it at Arctic Circle.  Now you can actually buy fry sauce in grocery stores.  There is a band called, Some Dude’s Fry Sauce.  This delicious concoction recently came out with a zesty version (or at least I think it was recent) that has chilies and garlic.  Delicious!  Now, for those of you who do not live near Idaho or Utah the biggest secret I have for you is that you can also get fry sauce by buying Thousand Island dressing.  It is the same thing.  (I did not know that until I was an adult.)  In fact, Thousand Island might be marginally better because it has pickles in it and if you have not figured out by now, I think pickles make everything better!  

Goodbye my friend

I already broke my promise to write every day.  As a matter of fact, it has almost been a week, but I am back and ready to talk pickles!

I got my first mail order pickles the other day,  Dynamite Dills!  I ordered two different jars and got a third one of another variety for free. That was the first thing I liked about this brand.  Dynamite Dill is a company based in Lancaster, PA.  The name of the company is the Original Pennsylvania Pickle Company.  The company was started by a woman named Anne Williams who believed that different pickles should compliment every meal, so she has five different dynamite dill flavors.  Right now on my desk I have three of them:  Jalapeno Garlic, Hot Habanero Garlic and Sweet n Chipotle Garlic.

I think the Jalapeno Garlic are not very spicy.  They are quite crisp and have a little bite to them, but not burn your mouth hot.  I think these are excellent on a sandwich.  For my taste, they could use a little more salt, but overall, they are very good.

The second jar I tried was the Hot Habanero and they are my favorite.  Again, they could use a touch more salt, but they are spicy!  I think these are addictive.  My neighbors partook in the Dynamite Dills tasting and the ones that were most eaten were the Habanero pickles.  Delicious.

The last jar Sweet n’ Chipotle…YUCKY!!!!!  Let me start with the color.  I also think the smell is a little like barbeque sauce and if you look back, you see I am not a fan of the Barbeque.  The third strike against it is that they are sweet.  I didn’t really like anything about these pickles.

So to sum up, I really like the Dynamite Dill brand.  These pickles are crisp and spicy and delicious.  Even the one variety that I did not enjoy was unique and therefore I give it innovation points.

Well, now I am back on track with my pickle blogging.  I have been absent because last Friday a dear friend of mine passed away so I was on the road to attend the service.  On 8/6/2010 Kendra Packer Lofthouse passed away from complications from type 1 Diabetes.  For those of you who knew Kendra, you know she was kind and strong and brave.  She was a good friend.   I love her and she will be missed.

Sclemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated!  Today I reviewed Milwaukee Midget Dill Pickles.  These pickles tout themselves as Wisconsin’s Hometown Favorite.  Now, I will be the first to admit I stink at geography, but last time I checked Wisconsin wasn’t a town, it is a state.  The pickles are little itty bitty dills that have a decent taste.  I think Alberto found them at Walmart.  They are fine for a Walmart pickle.  Good dill taste, but they aren’t spicy or sour.  They are just meh.  I also am not a fan of a pickle that is SMALLER than the baby dill.  Why do you want a pickle that small?  Even my five year old would eat three to get his pickle fix!!

In addition to not having much to say about the pickle, there isn’t a lot to say about the brand.  When I Googled the brand, there was nothing there.  I found a few message boards asking where people could buy them, who makes them, etc.  No official website.  Weird in the year 2010.  So I went over the label with a fine tooth comb and after pulling out a magnifying glass I found that they are part of Vlasic in Pennsylvania, which is part of Pinnacle Foods Corp in New Jersey.  What!?  I thought these were Wisconsin’s hometown favorite. J  I actually had formulated a whole story that, the beer plant where Laverne and Shirley worked, had a pickle division where Lenny and Squiggy worked.  It was the spin off that never got picked up.  Instead of putting a glove on the jar, it was a hat that the boys whimsically waved goodbye to during the opening credits.  I was very disappointed.  Then I realized that maybe the reason the pickles aren’t out of Wisconsin was because this show was never picked up.  They had to sell out to another pickle company.  There was no product placement.  At this point if you are wondering if I am a little crazy, the answer might be yes.  More likely I am just a woman in her mid thirties who is nostalgic for a time where TV was simpler.  Or maybe, even more likely, I shouldn’t wait to write so late at night, because my mind wanders a little too much!  For all of you who might be feeling a little nostalgic too, here is the Laverne and Shirley theme song:

Famous Dave's and fabulous pickles!

In my opinion, the only good thing about Barbeque is the pickles.  I know this is a very unpopular stance.  Some of you may even be asking, how does your Texas-born husband feel about this?  Not good.  Not good at all.  I grew up in a state where Barbeque usually meant someone was throwing burgers or hotdogs on a grill.  Very rarely did it mean that it was a drippy sauce covered meat that has sides of more meat and mayo ridden salads.  My favorite part of Barbeque, pickles of course.  So today, I am eating  Famous Dave's Signature Spicy Pickle Spears.  These pickles are really good.  This surprises me for a couple reasons.  First, they are called spicy pickles and they are not really that spicy.  There is a little zip to them, but not even enough to call them a little bite.  Second, they are sweet pickles.  I don’t normally like sweet pickles.  I think it must be the taste of the sweet with a touch (just a touch) of spice that I enjoy.  The tangy taste is really enticing!  I could see how these would be very addictive.  My tasting sample was three spears, and now I wish I had more! These pickles are surprisingly crunchy.  Usually pickles that are not deli style are not very crunchy.  (Sorry Vlasic, but it is true.)  These pickles were a pleasant surprise.  So next time my husband is in the mood for some molasses soaked food, I will suggest Famous Dave’s so I can enjoy the delicious pickles.

I think I have found a better use for barbecue sauce.  This article is a little over a year old, but I think this might be a fun way to get revenge.  Aurora woman's car slathered in barbecue sauce, pickles.  Good use for Barbecue sauce but not a good use for pickles!  Why couldn’t the vandals use beans or cole slaw or another traditional side?  Why waste perfectly good pickles?

Slow Day in the Pickle ‘Hood

Why don’t blondes eat pickes?

Because they can’t get their head out of the jar J

Before you get offended, please know, I am blonde and a little lacking for material today.

Today’s pickle was the baby dill pickle from 365 Everyday Value, which is sort of like Whole Foods version of generic.  When reading up a little on this brand I found a couple blogs and websites that stated that 365 Everyday Value is not as organic as it may claim.  It has “natural flavors” on the label, which is really code for chemicals.  I found this on vegsource.com.

The exact definition of natural flavorings & flavors from Title 21, Section 101, part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations is as follows:

"The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional."

So if it is derived from nature it can be considered Natural.  That doesn’t seem right.  This is all a tangent though…

The pickle was good!  I like baby dills in general.  These had a good flavor, an okay color and of course are fun sized, which in reality means I had to eat about five of them to get my pickle fix.  My five year old son loves baby dills because it is the right amount of pickle for him.  A jar of baby dills is the right amount of pickle for me!

So I would like to start a campaign to change the industry standard of naming pickles baby dills to fun sized dills.  They do it with candy all the time.  I do think it is dishonest marketing.  After all, wouldn’t a fun size chocolate bar really be twice the size.  In fact, maybe my campaign should be the opposite and I should campaign for fun sized candy bars to be changed to baby candy bars. 

The title of my blog, “the Fickle Pickle” has caused a little tension around my household.  Alberto, who is normally very witty and cleaver lacked in ideas, or should I say, lacked in ideas I liked.  My friend, Kristin is the one who came up with the Fickle Pickle.  Thank you Kristin.   I wanted to take the time to thanks my son, Jacob for my second favorite idea, “Super Pickle in Super Pickle Land.”  Now, I did introduce Super Pickle yesterday, so maybe I should have gone with his idea.  

Glucose-fructose and sugar in the ingredients makes for one gross pickle!!!!

Gundelsheim pickles are made in Gundelsheim, Germany.  The company, founded in 1920, has manufactured gerkins, fruit, other vegetables, vinegar and mustard.  Their pickles are hand picked, barrel fermented all natural pickles.  Tonight, I had a crunchy dill.  The thing I learned from tonight’s pickle, even though the label says dill, read the ingredients.  This pickle was much sweeter than I expected.  Way too sweet!  According to Gundelsheim’s website, they use a sweet-sour brine.  I tasted no sour and it needed sour.  On top of this way too sweet taste, I did not like the texture.  I am aware pickles have bumps.  These bumps reminded me of wrinkles.  Pickle skin should not resemble elderly people skin.  I really feel badly that I don’t like these pickles, because the pictures of the town are really cute.  Here is a link to the town website:  http://www.gundelsheim.de/rundum.html.  If you are looking to take a trip to a town that is famous for pickles and is in Germany , this might be a good one.  Although, I actually advise against eating the pickles!  I did a little research and at least 10 other German brands are sold in the U.S. so I am going to try some of those before deciding which pickle village in Germany I am going to visit.

Tonight, I would like to introduce Super Pickle.  Super Pickle is the official mascot of the gerkin gal blog.  I was given super pickle sometime in middle school.  You may say, oh, that is why he is missing an eye and his nose is frayed.  Sadly, that is not true.  Super pickle was busy being a respectable super hero until he met my son Jacob.  I am unsure what Jacob did to Super Pickle, all I know is that Super Pickle looks closer to his age now.  So let’s everyone give Super Pickle a warm welcome.  He is going to be my companion the rest of this journey.  What does this entail for him?  I am unsure.  I guess that is part of the journey.  If I haven’t proved that I have too much time on my hands because I am writing a blog about pickles, this has to seal the deal.  Now I am committed to figure out how to work in a six inch stuffed pickle every once and awhile.

Big Pappa

So to conclude this miniseries covering pickle in a pouch, I am going to discuss Big Pappa.  Big Pappa is a normal, run of the mill, large dill.  Very delicious!  It is a really salty pickle so sometimes Big Pappa dehydrates me and swells up my fingers.  That being said, Big Pappa is so worth it!  Big Pappa is also often found in my purse.  My oldest and dearest friend, Brittany went to lunch with me one day.  While I was digging through my purse I pulled out Big Pappa.  She made a comment about how that was pretty disgusting.  I have always wondered if she meant keeping a pickle in my purse in general or the actual pickle in a pouch.  I decided not to pursue it.  I didn’t want to find out my best friend was like pickle girl and afraid of pickles in general.

Now, I love pickle in a pouch, but I become a little obsessive about things and I go thought periods where I eat WAY to many pickle in a pouches.  I have been known to eat a few a day.  So normally, I will eat three or so for a few days in a row and not be able to eat them again for a month or so.   That is the point I am at now.  Luckily, I just said I was having pickle in a pouch weekend and not pickle in a pouch month! 

I would like to take a moment to remember Notorious B.I.G.   One of his most famous songs was Big Poppa.  (Please be aware before you click on the link the song is totally inappropriate.)  He also had a song, whose title I won’t name because it is also inappropriate about drinking pickle juice.  So, even though on the surface Mr. B.I.G. and I did not have a lot in common, if I had ever met him, maybe, just possibly, he would have wanted to read my blog.  Okay, maybe not, but he did die too young.