SPICE ROUTE TO THE PAST

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By  Ankita Jain   –   the pioneer

Pickles made and preserved using age-old methods are gradually finding space for themselves in a book by Chef Kunal Kapur. Ankita jain reports

Think pickles and you’re immediately transported to childhood. When summers meant mothers, aunts and grandmothers working their way through mounds of cut mangoes, measuring out spices, salt and freshly-pressed gingelly oil. Finally, the spicy mix would go into huge, waist-high jars, be covered with a cloth, and tied with a piece of string. The pickle jars were off bounds for most; only the chosen lady of the house would do the honours every day – air out the mix, give it a quick stir with a dry ladle, and re-seal the jars till the contents inside were ready for consumption.

In times when ‘Make In India’ is gaining currency, chef Kunal Kapur is celebrating indigenous product like pickles that we have been making for centuries. Kunal has started a pickle campaign titled – ‘Pickle Tickle’ which will enable home cooks, pickle makers and pickle connoisseurs from across India to submit their most innovative and unique pickle recipes. The aim is to put together the largest collection of pickles from different parts of India in his forthcoming book.

Whenever we think pickles and we are immediately transported to childhood. So what are chef Kunal’s fond memories around pickles? “Being brought up in a Punjabi family in Delhi, every summer holidays meant watching our favourite mango being pickled. It is very nostalgic moment as we would climb up the top floor using the wooden ladder to place the white sheet on the floor of the terrace and spread mangoes for drying. The sight from that terrace saw almost every house drying mangoes in the season for pickling. Some times when suddenly the weather would change, mom would shout out loud to bring down the pickle from the terrace. We would rush and grab before anything could happen to it. Both of us (Kunal and his sister) would help, wash and wipe the mangoes and as our granny would cut them with a large knife we would sneak a piece or two of the raw mango and quietly eat it with a pinch of black salt.” When asked about the Pickle Tickle campaign and what went into the germ of this idea, he explained, “This campaign requires help from anyone to either contribute a unique pickle recipe or recommend a unique pickle or a pickle maker and I will travel and learn the pickle myself and document that recipe and the pickle maker in the book. At the same time, India has the largest collection of pickles in the world and yet we have never documented it and pickling is a dying art. More and more people are happy buying a bottle of pickle from the market not knowing the real taste and benefits of homemade pickle.” The book will also feature pickles from the least discovered places right from north east to Jammu and Kashmir, to Andaman and Nicobar. “My first research on pickles started from Nagaland and the next is Assam,” he said. The uniqueness about his campaign is the crowd sourced model. “My knowledge on pickles is limited to what I know and what I have learnt with my travels. And if I have to put the largest collection of the most unique pickles of India then I need help from people across India and hence the campaign urges all people to contribute to the book by sharing their unique pickle recipe.” For chef Kunal travel is an experience and he treats it as an investment. “Travelling to me brings up unique ingredients coupled with interesting methods that becomes the catalyst for innovation when I come back to my kitchen.”

With most young families keen to eat out these days, will these family secrets like pickles die a slow death? “The overall aim is to revive the dying flavours of pickle and to keep our cuisine and heritage alive in a form that can be replicated by generations to come. Also, to make people aware that there are several healthy pickles as well which can be easily made part of their daily diet.”

A Restaurant That Only Serves Pickles Is On The Way

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Will you relish it or hate it?

BY    –   delish

Pickles are polarizing: While some people pick them as their favorite snack—and they’re one of the most storied of pregnancy cravings—others totally hate them. And then there are the next-level pickle obsessives who swear by boozy pickleback shots. Riding the cult following of the vinegar-soaked cucumber, one man decided to open a restaurant dedicated to the garlicky things.

In New York (of course) the team behind a kosher shop called The Pickle Guys is now working on a full blown, brick-and-mortar sit-down restaurant concept. So far, the menu is still in the works, Eater reports. But the shop’s manager said it’s leaning toward focusing on various types of fried pickles. Because obviously.

FACEBOOK / THE PICKLE GUYS

But there will also be variations on the pickle in fried form, including fried okra, fried mushroom, and fried tomato. “We pickle many, many things throughout the year,” manager William Soo told Eater. “We’ll try to bring that stuff to the eatery.”

Once it opens—the date is currently slated for sometime in March or April—the restaurant will be set-up for to-go orders, however there will also be limited seating at bar stools and tables.

Austin, Texas’ Top 10 Pickled, Cured, or Brined Bites (and Sips)

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Nothing a little time and some spices can’t fix

BY ADRIENNE WHITEHORSE, FRI., DEC. 30, 2016   –   AUSTIN CHRONICLE

1) Pickled Peanuts, Royal Jelly

Recently, Royal Jelly owner and chef Matt Walker thought to pickle groundnuts to give his Thai shrimp lettuce wraps a little more acidity and a slightly softer texture. On any given day, the Royal Jelly crew is concocting a new brine to play with. But that day had extra magic.

2) Fermented Green Tomatoes, Soursop

We love anything these guys throw in a salt solution, be it shoestring carrots and daikon on the roti tacos or Thai chiles for their top-secret hot sauce. But these tangy green tomatoes are stacked atop green-curry fried chicken for a sandwich that hits all the right notes. The food truck at the St. Elmo Brewing Co. combines savory, sweet, spicy, and acidic, resulting in flavor bombs that beg to be accompanied by a sip of crisp beer.

3) Probiotic Sauerkraut, Hat Creek Provisions

We sampled this crunchy kraut at last year’s Fermentation Festival and have had a healthy addiction since. Available at retail outlets like Wheatsville and Whole Foods, the lacto-fermented cabbage (never heated and without vinegar) is naturally full of probiotics for a healthy gut. So you understand why we sometimes – okay, often – eat it straight outta the jar.

4) Tuna Crudo, Lenoir

We recently celebrated a special occasion at Lenoir, and this olive oil-cured tuna, resting in ponzu with a delicate melon relish, was our favorite bite of the night. With the menu changing as often as Texas’ winter weather, we regret that this dish has likely already been retired; but we’re pretty confident something else equally stellar will have taken its place.

5) Fermented Tomato Bloody Mary, Emmer & Rye

Koji, a fungus used to ferment soy sauce and miso, is employed in several desserts at Emmer & Rye, including an apple syrup on the French toast at brunch. Not much surprises us from a restaurant that has a dedicated fermentation pantry. It is said that fermented foods will help hangovers; that’s just one of the reasons we love this umami-laden Bloody.

6) The Jolene, the Boiler Room

Pickled peach shares the stage with ginger beer, sun tea bitters, and mint in this vodka-based cocktail from mixologist Jason Stevens. The subterranean bar below the Seaholm Power Plant pays homage to famous musicians with its craft cocktail menu, and this Dolly Parton nod sings.

7) Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs, Central Standard

This steakhouse’s beautiful presentation of cured, smoked salmon deviled eggs, topped with bright pink pickled red onion and “everything spice” is quite possibly one of the most Instagrammable brunch items of the year. Eaten together with one of the best steak tartares in town, our taste buds were pretty pleased as well.

8) The Hawaiian Rose, Cu29 Cocktail Bar

When the price of a cocktail veers into the double digits, it seems worth it to get a show from the bartenders performing their craft. With this coconut rum-based drink, a slice of bacon is torched in front of you, the fat dripping into a mixing bowl, which is then whisked into a whipped cream dream. This one is worth the wait.

9) Kimchi and Banchan, Mom’s Taste

Not quite a grocery store, this family-owned Korean mini-mart sells marinated beef and pork for cooking bulgogi at home, as well as a fantastic variety of banchan (side dishes) like soybean sprouts, seaweed salad, fish cake, and kimchi galore: radish, cucumber, napa cabbage, etc. If you’re feeling adventurous, try the peppered organ meats or the fried anchovy with gochujang. We love it all.

10) Charcuterie Board, Aviary Lounge

Aviary is everything we want in a wine bar. Intimate space (a home furnishings store by day), great selection of wine and beer, and a rotating list of meats and cheeses that is always thoughtfully curated. Even if they didn’t add Easy Tiger bread and house pickles, it would still be one of our favorites.

Homemade pretzels are just one of the ways you can recycle pickle brine

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You can also drink it, use it to brine a chicken or add it to a marinade.

BY CHRISTINE BURNS RUDALEVIGE   –   PORTLAND PRESS HERALD

What to do with leftover brine in the pickle jar? Make pretzels. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Pickle brine is not an insignificant substance.

According to Pickle Packers International, Inc., a trade association for the pickled vegetable industry, Americans consume more than 2.5 billion pounds of commercial pickles each year. Even before you start counting the ones we pickle at home, we’re still talking about 20 billion pickles annually, folks.

All of which have been sitting in a brine comprising some combination of water, salt, sugar and spices, a mixture most of us don’t think twice about dumping down the drain. Being resolute about using up used pickle brine across your culinary repertoire is a small, but significant, step to take for a greener new year.

Based on the eight jars of pickles in my cupboard, I estimate a quart jar can hold 10 large, 16 medium or 24 small pickles. Once the pickles, regardless of their size, are gone, each of the jars is left with 1¼ to 1½ cups of what you can now think of as liquid flavor.

You can drink it, especially before and after a tough workout, when it can help relieve muscle cramps (thanks to the sodium and vinegar) and help replenish electrolytes, which renders expensive, plastic-bottled, sugary sports drinks unnecessary. Given that it is the day after New Year’s Eve, I can also offer up pickle brine as a hangover cure.

If you are taking it straight up, sipping is the right approach. A big chug might not sit well in your tummy. You could always strain the brine into Popsicle molds and freeze it if you need to further monitor the speed at which you take it in.

Pickling expert Marissa McClellan, who wrote “Food in Jars,” “Preserving by the Pint” and “Naturally Sweet Food in Jars,” says you can use spent pickle brine to make more pickles – but only if you are making a batch of refrigerator pickles. And we’re not just talking about cucumbers; you can quick-pickle sliced red onions, grated carrots, hard-boiled eggs, garlic, artichoke hearts or any other soft vegetables. McClellan warns that once a brine has been processed in either a water bath or a pressure canner and has sat in a jar on the shelf with a batch of pickles submerged in it, the acidity of the brine will not likely be high enough to make a new batch safe to store unrefrigerated.

Cathy Barrow, whose book “Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry” guides cooks through sundry ways of using every bit of the canned goods in your larder deliciously, suggests using pickle juice to brine chicken. A basic brine – essentially a salt-and-water solution with optional flavorings – tenderizes meat and allows it to absorb the flavored liquid. If you want to cut the sourness, add a little brown sugar. If you want only a hint of pickle, cut the brine with an equal amount of water.

You can use pickle brine anywhere you’d use vinegar, such as salad dressings, marinades and barbecue sauces. You can use it – albeit in shorter measure – in a dirty martini instead of olive juice or to tart up a Bloody Mary, swapping out the celery garnish for a pickle spear, of course. And you can use a dash of pickle juice anywhere a heavy or flat-tasting dish need a bit of zip – like when you’re boiling a pot of potatoes, mixing up meatloaf, baking macaroni and cheese, steaming vegetables or making hummus.

The one Internet-fueled idea I found hard to swallow was using pickle juice to make bread. The recipes I read recommended a 1:1 swap with warm water used in standard bread recipes. I wasn’t thrown off by the potential taste – I thought that would be great – but I worried the acid would diminish the bread’s rise. In fact, it doesn’t. My homemade pretzel dough rose to twice its size in the expected 90 minutes. And the finished product was soft, chewy perfection with a pleasing tang that allowed me to forgo my usual mustard on the side.

Christine Burns Rudalevige is a food writer, a recipe developer and tester and a cooking teacher in Brunswick. Contact her at: cburns1227@gmail.com.

WHAT DOES A PICKLE HAVE TO DO WITH CHRISTMAS?

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It doesn’t smell or taste like an actual gherkin, but a pickle ornament can be found on plenty of Christmas trees in the US.

BY SIGNE DEAN   –   National Geographic

Image: Robin Zebrowski, Flickr/CC BY 2.0

The only limit to Christmas tree decor is your imagination—but traditionally it’s an array of bows, baubles, angel figurines and tinsel. Far less common is the Christmas pickle, a glass ornament shaped like an actual pickled gherkin, and often hidden in the tree so that the first of the children to find it on Christmas morning receives a special present.

If you’ve never heard of this tradition, you’re far from alone.

The pickle ornament is largely found in some places in the US, where they claim it’s an old German tradition. Germans, however, had not heard of it until Americans told them about it, so to this day no one’s entirely sure how the Christmas pickle tradition came to pass.

One theory goes that in the late 19th century F. W. Woolworth stores in the US started selling glass ornaments handcrafted in Germany; some of these ornaments were shaped like fruit and vegetables, including the pickle that somehow got surrounded in its own mythical ‘old German’ tradition.

Whatever the origins, pickle ornaments can indeed be found in some family collections in the US today. In the late 90s the village of Berrien Springs in Michigan even put its name on the map with an annual Christmas Pickle Festival, complete with pickle tastings, a pickle toss, and a parade orchestrated by Grand Dillmeister.

The internet is going crazy over this dill pickle soup

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By Tracy Saelinger   –   USA Today

You’re usually in the pickle camp or you’re not. If you’re a true pickle devotee, though, you’re probably on board for pretty much anything pickled: fried pickles, pickle-brined chicken, quick pickles, pickle-juice cocktails. You get the idea.

So when those of us pickle lovers at TODAY Food heard about a dill pickle soup recipe that’s going viral, we decided what we’re having for dinner tonight.

RELATED: Here’s how to make Al Roker’s famous cold-brew coffee

The recipe is the creation of Cathy Pollak, a food and travel writer, winemaker and wine grower based in McMinnville, the heart of Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country — not far from Portland, where of course, the city’s love of pickles inspired the “You can pickle that!” sketch on Portlandia.

On her blog, Noble Pig, Pollak posted the original recipe a few years ago­, and it swept the country then. But more recently, she posted a video to Facebook, and it went wild — to the tune of 15 million views and counting.

“It took on a life of its own mostly because people are either in love with the idea (pickle lovers) or they are disgusted with the idea,” Pollack told TODAY Food.

If you, too, have pickle juice running through your veins, you’re probably with the tens of thousands of commenters who have posted things like “I NEED this” or a string of green-emoji hearts. “Seriously people, make it! It’s so much better than it sounds. Don’t forget to get some crusty bread to dip in there!” encourages one poster.

Others are ambivalent — there’s lot of “I’m still not sure how I feel about this” comments — to vehement dissenters: “This makes me want to vomit!” writes a poster, who, full disclosure, once accepted a dare to drink a cup of pickle juice. OK, well, that makes sense.

The recipe itself, which you can find here, is easy: It calls for a dozen ingredients and takes about 30 minutes to make, start to finish.

Note: You will need at least 2 cups of pickle juice (personally, after I’m done with a jar of pickles, I keep the remaining juice in the fridge for situations just like this!). Pollak does mention in the recipe, “All pickle juice is not created equal. Some are saltier than others.” After adding the pickle juice, taste the soup before adding the final seasonings, and adjust accordingly, she suggests.

As pickle lovers, we implore you to give it a try — and report back if you do.

Why You Should Care About National Pickle Day

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Everything you need to know about preserved cucumbers but were afraid to ask.

By Victoria Haneveer   –   Houstonia

THE FIRST OFFICIAL NATIONAL PICKLE DAY was celebrated on November 14, 2001, in New York City, and it has been celebrated annually (and nationally) since. Pickled cucumbers are thought to date back to 2030 BC, when the soft-skinned melons were imported from India into the Tigris Valley and salted to allow them to survive the journey. Preserving other foods in vinegar or brine is thought to date back even further though, to the Mesopotamians.

This tasty snack is a good source of Vitamin K and is low in calories. Cleopatra loved pickles and claimed eating them enhanced her looks, while Caesar fed them to his troops, believing they offered spiritual and physical strength. Hundreds of years later, Napoleon had the same idea and offered a cash price of 12,000 francs to anyone who could preserve them safely. In the 1600s, cucumbers were pickled at home and commercialized in Virginia. Today there are many types of pickles in various sizes, ranging from sweet to sour, sliced, whole, diced or minced.

A Few Pickle Facts

Americans eat around nine pounds of pickles per person per year, and the most popular kind is kosher dill, largely due to the large numbers of Eastern European Jews who emigrated to New York City in the late 1800s. During World War II, 40 percent of all American-produced pickles were set aside to go in Armed Forces and soldiers’ ration kits.

Some famous pickle fans include Napoleon, Queen Elizabeth, Aristotle, Roman emperor Tiberius, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Pickles can be enjoyed as a snack, perhaps with cheese and crackers, or they can be added to hamburgers, hot dogs or sandwiches. Deep-fried pickles (sometimes called frickles) are pretty good too—they’re made by battering or breading slices of pickle, then deep-frying them. The word pickle comes from pekel, a Dutch word which means brine.

Pickle juice has also been found to revive exhausted athletes. During a September 2000 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys in Irving, Texas, temperatures reached 109 degrees — allegedly the hottest game in NFL history. Eagles players reportedly drank pickle juice and ended up with a 41-14 win. A later study confirmed that pickle juice helps to relieve cramping 37 percent quicker than plain water.

Craving candy? Bite into a pickle instead to satisfy your sweet craving. I’ve tried this, and, yes, it actually works. Don’t get in a pickle – bite into a kosher dill!

Where to Dine on Pickles

Everyone has tried pickles, but not everyone has had fried pickles. If you want to get your teeth into this snappy snack, head to Natachee’s Supper & Punch in Midtown. This child-friendly café offers a range of burgers, sandwiches, salads and all-American dishes like chicken fried steak, fish and chips and chipotle chicken, along with a range of breakfast and brunch items. If your meal doesn’t come with fried pickles, you can order them on the side for just $1.99 or a bigger serving to share for $5.99. The pickles come with ranch dipping sauce on the side and the creamy texture contrasts really well with the tangy fried pickles. Try it, you won’t regret it!

How to Enjoy Pickle Day

If you want to get into the spirit of National Pickle Day, consider trying other varieties or flavors of pickles from what you normally have. Try a kosher dill or bite into a half-sour. Some people like to dip dill pickles into chocolate sauce. This might sound strange, but the combination of tart and sweet is really surprising (in a good way)! For sweet cravers, there are koolickles, too—dill pickles steeped in Kool-Aid. If that doesn’t appeal to you (and you’re not alone), rustle up some burgers or a pastrami or beef sandwich and add sliced pickles in there, or enjoy a deep-fried pickle recipe if you want something with crunch.

Suculenta Brings Rare Pickles to Oaxaca

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By Dakota Kim   –   Paste Magazine

Paulina Garcia grew up in arid northern Mexico, where garlic, pecans, apples and potatoes grow, but most people she knew shopped at H-E-B, Walmart and Sam’s Club. “In the north, we’re pretty Americanized,” Garcia said.

When Garcia moved to the city of Oaxaca with her boyfriend Daniel Lopez, who co-opened top bakery Boulenc on Calle Porfirio Diaz, she had been experimenting with pickling. A few months ago, a small, charming space opened up across the street from Boulenc and was offered to the bakery, but they didn’t want it, so they offered it to Garcia and Lopez. Garcia knew immediately what she wanted to do: a pickle shop that took advantage of the bounty of Oaxaca’s markets, which overflow with such a diversity of fruits and vegetables that Garcia says she learns a new species every week. A few wooden shelves and pickling sessions later, Suculenta was ushered into Oaxaca’s booming culinary scene.

Guests peruse the shelves full of dill pickles, cardamom honey, pear marmalade, mushroom pate, pumpkin relish, ginger mustard, apple vinegar, and oil flavored with Mexican herbs and spices. Friends, neighbors and acquaintances pop in to say hello to Garcia as she works on putting up her latest batch of escabeche. “We know a lot of these people from the bakery, so you could say we have a close relationship with our customers,” Garcia said. “This project reminds some people of a recipe from their grandmother or mother, so everybody is always sharing.”

At the front, I sample a jam that is remarkably flavorful, evoking the sweet, ripe, light taste that hovers somewhere between an apricot and a plum. Garcia says that the jam is made from a small golden yellow fruit that she passes to me, urging me to taste it. Garcia found the Japanese plum known as loquat, or nispero in Mexico, at a Oaxaca market one day. Though native to Asia, it grows widely across Oaxaca, Garcia says, and is just one of the many new foods that has entered her life since she moved to abundant Oaxaca.

Visitors to Oaxaca can sample Garcia’s pickles at her shop, or if it’s closed, purchase them down the street at Boulenc bakery, which uses her jams, mushroom pate, mustard, pickled carrots and jams, and sells jars of her products.

Paste chatted with Garcia about the food climate in Oaxaca and her hopes for her pickling shop.

Paste: So are pickles traditionally a Oaxacan food? There is escabeche, but are other items typically pickled?

Paulina Garcia: There are some pickles made in Oaxaca — some chayotes, potatoes, carrots, plums. They sell them on the street usually, with a piece of bread. They pour strong vinegar directly on them, so they are a bit strong. Also, pigs’ feet are served on escabeche. I haven’t tried that one, but I’ve seen it a lot in Mexico in general.

Paste: How do you make your escabeche?

PG: The traditional recipe is made with white vinegar, water, salt, spices, and vegetable oil. You can use jalapenos, any kind of vegetables, or a mix of both. Our recipe is made with olive oil instead of vegetable oil to make it more healthy and tasteful.

Paste: Since produce grows year-round here, it doesn’t seem like there’s as much of a need to ferment food for the winter, but are Mexicans generally embracing fermented foods to a greater degree, in your opinion?

PG: Anything that it’s “in” in the U.S. eventually makes it way into Mexico, a few years later of course. So I believe that we are a little bit ahead of our time, but it’s definitely becoming a thing. Pickles, healthy food, ferments, sourdough, all the good stuff.

Paste: Do you have an idealistic mission when it comes to your pickles?

PG: Yes, our aim is to replace the supermarkets and the brands that we all usually buy. Our products use only local ingredients, with no artificial flavors or preservatives. Buying something from us supports the producers and farmers directly.

Paste: What are your most popular items?

PG: I would say the marmalades and the peanut butter, probably because they’re sweet and easier to pair, and in second place, the dill cucumber pickles.

Paste: You wouldn’t think this pickle recipe from north of the border would be the most popular.

PG: I’d say it’s because we get a lot of foreign people that love pickles. And in our Mexican market, we know that pickle from burgers and hot dogs, so it’s easy to know how to eat it.

Paste: What are some new items that you are experimenting with?

PG: Right now, I’m experimenting with lacto-fermented carrots and radishes. The flavor is crazy interesting. We just got some organic honey and beeswax, so I’m doing soap, candles and beeswax lip balm. And pickles, always pickles. We just did some pickled quail eggs and pickled garlic and they’re amazing. Also, I’d like to have a whole line of beauty products, personal hygiene, utilitarian items — everything with the same concept: simple, natural, locally made, homemade.

Paste: Any other new fruits or vegetables you’ve discovered lately besides the nispero?

PG: Magic beans! We just got a mix of beans grown and harvested in a small town in the Sierra Sur. When we opened them, they were all different colors and sizes, and they looked like candy.

Paste: Has the Oaxacan community been supportive, culinarily and culturally?

PG: Yes, I love it here. Seems like everybody is doing something interesting and it’s really easy to connect with people of all ages and genders. I have 65 year old friends and I think that’s amazing. Where I come from, you only make friends with people your own age. I think that limits you in a way.

Paste: What markets and restaurants do you like most in Oaxaca, and why?

PG: I visit all markets — 20 de Noviembre and Sanchez Pascuas more because they’re in my same street. But I go to Abastos and, whenever we can, we visit markets in other towns — you always find something new. For restaurants, I like El Destilado, Archivo Maguey, La Biznaga, and tons of street food of course. And obviously, Boulenc everyday.

Paste: Your shop is so charming. Are you planning on expanding?

PG: Right know it’s only a part store and a part kitchen. The place connects with a huge house so we’re definitely looking to expand.

Suculenta is located at Porfirio Diaz #207-G in Oaxaca’s Centro Historico and is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The store is closed on Sundays. Call +52 951 351 3648 for daily specials.

Dakota Kim is Paste’s Food Editor. Tweet her @dakotakim1.

 

Detroit police probe the problem of pilfered pickles

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By – Associated Press – Friday, December 2, 2016

DETROIT (AP) – Thousands of dollars of pickles, bloody mary mix and chips may have been pilfered from a pickle company in Detroit and sold by local stores at cut-rate prices, police said.

An inventory at McClure’s Pickles in Detroit prompted concerns, Detective Mike Pacteles said. The theft totaling more than $13,000 included 58 cases of chips worth $710 and $486 in bloody mary mix, The Detroit News reported (http://detne.ws/2ggcRec ).

“I have done a lot of things in my 18 years as a police officer, but didn’t think I would be setting aside other work to be out looking for a pickle bandit,” he said.

The pickles were in 5- and 1-gallon containers. Five area stores were found selling products at bargain prices, Pacteles said. Store owners or workers could face charges if they got the products illegally, he said, as well as anyone involved in the thefts.

“We assume that this is an inside job involving employees or former employees and will be able to eventually identify the person or persons involved, and they could be facing theft and embezzlement charges,” he said, adding the investigation has produced several suspects.

Asked about the case, McClure’s CEO Bob McClure told the newspaper: “I have my team on this and we are trying to get answers.”

Skip the cheese plate: Pickle boards are the new holiday star

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It’s 5 p.m. on a chilly night in December. You’re in the office bathroom primping for your friend’s annual holiday party, and you haven’t eaten a thing, hoping to save your appetite for the endless morsels these festive gatherings  aptly provide. After a few glasses of Champagne and a bit of mingling, you make a beeline for the spread. You scan the appetizer table—the various dips, assorted olives and nuts—and finally arrive at the token cheese board: dependable, creamy, lac-tastic. You shove a few cubes of cheddar and Gouda into your face, wash it down with a cracker or two, dust the crumbs off your party outfit and are momentarily satisfied.

Candy Red Beets, Sour Green Tomatoes, Dilly Green Beans, Sweet & Spicy Carrots

Candy Red Beets, Sour Green Tomatoes, Dilly Green Beans, Sweet & Spicy Carrots

But who says this is how things should be? How festive can a water cracker really get? This year, instead of weighing your guests down with the heavy, bland cheese assortments of yore, try a fresher option. Something gloriously crunchy, spicy, sweet and sour: Pickle boards are here to save your holiday, and they’re the only way you should be kicking off any seasonal fete.

We’re not just talking a few big dills and a jar of half-sours here. Think a cornucopia of complex flavors, from sweet red pickled beets to crunchy, spiced carrots to a few smears of mustard and a pile of salty, fatty serrano ham, all laid out in perfect order, waiting to be devoured by eager guests. This plethora of pickles is within reach, which is why we’ve asked an expert to help get us there.

Jacob Hadjigeorgis, pickle connoisseur and owner of Jacob’s Pickles, a pickle-focused comfort food restaurant in Manhattan, preaches the importance of these briny snacks. “I found when opening the restaurant that guests, consumers and the public in general have a tremendous passion for pickles,” he says.

He describes the pickle’s vital place at the holiday table, explaining, “Pickles are big, bright and bold. They wake up and cleanse the palate, and they can even act as a kind of digestif to settle the stomach or round out the meal.”

Here are a few tips from Hadjigeorgis for taking your holiday assortment to the next level.

① Variety Show

When it comes to a bomb pickle board, variety is the spice of life. “I think it’s important to show a range,” Hadjigeorgis says. “I recommend a traditional, clean, balanced, brined salt pickle to start, but then the addition of something sweet, sour, salty and spicy.”

Think spice from chile, warm heat from cinnamon or the complexity of coriander, garlic and dill being present in the brine. This way, “you find something for every palate and [a pickle] to complement various dishes throughout the meal.”

② The Cukes of Hazzard

News flash: Cucumbers aren’t the only thing you should be pickling this holiday season. “The cucumber is the true foundational pickle, but I think there’s a misconception that pickles are only cucumbers,” Hadjigeorgis says. “We pickle a variety of vegetables [at Jacob’s Pickles]. Right now, we offer cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, beets, string beans, jalapeños and okra.”

He continues, “I think you have an opportunity to really play and experiment with flavor profiles when it comes to different vegetables.” For example, because tomatoes and beets are naturally sweet, a brine with a higher level of sugar will complement that natural sweetness in the vegetables.

③ A Perfect Pair

Make no mistake: The pickles should be the star of your board. Still, a really spectacular holiday spread may need a bit more. So what else do you include in your pickled platter?

“The beauty of pickles is that they pair well with a lot of things,” he says. He’s found that fattier meats and creamy, mild cheeses (yes, cheese makes an appearance) work particularly well. “There needs to be a balance,” he says. “You have to be careful in pairing the salt content. In my opinion, you shouldn’t have a cured meat that’s saltier than the pickle itself.”

Same goes for the cheese. Low salt and high fat are your friends. “A triple crème is great with pickles, a sharp cheddar cheese is excellent, and something that would have a little funk to it to offer another layer,” he says. “I’d really enjoy a Point Reyes [Original] Blue, for example, which has a creamier, milder funk profile.”

And to wash it all down? For Hadjigeorgis, you can’t beat craft beer. “Beer and pickles has kind of been our guiding light here,” he says. “For starters, try Allagash White. It has coriander and citrus notes with enough of a backbone to stand against a potent pickle. Maine MO gives you a bitter hop contrast while allowing the salt and vinegar to come through. And for a unique experience, try The Bruery’s Sour in the Rye to pair your pickles with tart cherry notes.”

④ Brine It On

When it comes to finding the perfect pickles for your holiday board, homemade is often the best (and most fun) way to get exactly what you want.

“It’s a fun process,” Hadjigeorgis says. “There’s a trial and error that comes with it, and you can totally come up with your own profile: higher salt, higher acid, a different balance.” All you need is great vinegar (like apple cider, white or rice), water, sugar and salt. “If you have those four components, you can easily come up with a brine. Of course, it won’t have those complex layers, but that’s where the different spices come in.”

Hadjigeorgis says it’s entirely possible to turn around pickles in a few days, but they can also be made weeks in advance. “This means you can prepare [the pickles] way ahead of time and just pull them out when you’re ready to assemble your board.”

If pickling vegetables yourself isn’t your style, Hadjigeorgis suggests checking out your local farmers’ market to find unique, complex and tasty pickle varieties.

That’s one board we won’t be getting, ahem, bored of anytime soon.