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