By: Catherine Downes

D magazine

Pickle sandwich at the Spiral Diner & Bakery in Fort Worth, Tx

The folks at Spiral Diner & Bakery subscribe to this hedonistic mentality—they slather pineapple-ghost pepper jam and vegan cream cheese on veggie burgers, for Pete’s sake. But this isn’t the most bizarre item on the menu.

Under the “Wraps & Sandwiches” section you’ll find a pickle sandwich. The description: “Cri’s classic poor man meal. Two slices of grilled bread with mayo and pickles.” The sandwich has been a staple since 2004. Cri Rivera, Spiral’s first employee, wanted something cheap and easy. The dish was conceived and quickly became his go-to break meal.
The sandwich: two thick, and slightly toasted, slices of Yellow French Toast from Rotella’s Italian Bakery, out of Las Vista, Nebraska, are slathered with Follow Your Heart Vegenaise. For those who aren’t familiar with the anatomy of vegan mayonnaise, it’s made from expeller-pressed canola oil, brown rice syrup, apple cider vinegar, soy protein, sea salt, mustard flour, and lemon juice concentrate. The main distinction between this and regular mayonnaise is the lack of eggs.

Then come the pickles. A generous cluster of Don Hermann & Sons dill pickle chips are scattered across the mayo-covered toast. They’re tangy and juicy. The perfect textual compliment to the oily spread. Theres an option to add a protein, avocado, cheese, or organic spinach for an up-charge—but why mess with a good thing?
Those of you who just cringed, quivered, and dramatically gagged should take a deep breath, close your eyes, and consider expanding your palates. Maybe you’ll like it? Maybe you won’t? But with a price-tag of $3.95 you can afford to find out for yourself.

By :Erik Fideor

College Avenue Magazine 

 

Photo credit: Erik Fideor

Try this sweet,tangy and spicy pickle hummus !

Hummus balances health, taste and ease-of-preparation in a way that makes it perfect for party platters and packed lunches alike. This recipe is versatile because you may adjust the proportion of ingredients to result in a final product perfect for your taste, whether that be more spicy, sweet, tangy or mild. Experimenting is at least half of the fun, but rest assured that these base ingredients will result in a delicious dish nearly every time.

Salted garbanzo beans tend to have a better flavor, and one batch can serve enough for four to five to enjoy in one sitting or two to three servings for one person. Start by straining the garbanzo beans in the sink with a strainer or sieve and rinsing them with cool water. Pour them into a food processor and then lightly and evenly coat them with onion and garlic powder. You may use fresh chopped onion and garlic, but mince them as finely as possible and give more time blending to ensure that the ingredients become thoroughly mixed in the hummus. Powder tends to be a bit easier in that regard.

The next three ingredients compose the main flavor of the hummus, so they can be tailored to your preferred flavor. Look for sweet and/or spicy pickles that are brined with peppers for the best results. If you love heat, go for the more spicy varieties. The garbanzo beans will absorb some of the heat, so air on the side of more intense flavors for noticeable results. Add in around four or five pickle chips (or one to 1 ½ spears) along with some of the brine (which is typically vinegar, water and salt). This will make the hummus smoother and add to the flavor.
To heat up the hummus, add in canned cherry peppers. They are hot, slightly sweet and tangy. Perfect to compliment the pickle taste and will not detract as much as jalapeños or banana peppers. Whole cherry peppers are fine to use as well, add about three or four slices to the mix, along with about one teaspoon of their brine as well. Do not worry if the hummus does not taste hot enough yet, as you can serve the dish with pepper slices on top or from the jar at the end.

If at this point you want a tangier flavor, add white wine vinegar to taste. But be careful that you do not overdo it. There is already vinegar in the pickle and cherry pepper brine, but they will also have hot or sweet flavors like the taste of the other ingredients. Start with one teaspoon and add ¼ teaspoon after each mix until you are happy with the flavor.
While mixing, the garbanzo beans will start out dry and may not be smooth. The liquid from the pickles and peppers along with their brine will help make the hummus smoother and creamier. The end result should hold its shape and not drip. Liquid should not pool at the edges or bottom of the hummus. The consistency will be wetter than mashed potatoes but drier than tomato paste. Think re-fried beans only smoother and lighter.

Chill the hummus for an hour in a bowl with a damp cloth or plastic wrap over the top and smooth the top with a spatula for a clean presentation. The flavor will intensify the longer the hummus sits in the refrigerator, so eating it immediately may give a more mild taste. Try folding in the edges and run the spatula across the top in a wide circle to make a bun shape, and then use the edge to make curved marks going from the outside edge toward the center. Optionally, garnish the top by sprinkling sesame seeds or cherry pepper slices if you like extra heat.
Serve your hummus with sliced baby carrots and celery sticks to provide a healthy alternative to snack foods, or crackers or toasted bread for indulgent flavors. Other good vegetables to scoop or dip with include broccoli, cauliflower, roma or cherry tomatoes or even a raw bell pepper.

What you will need:

· Blender or food processor
· Spatula
· Bowl
· Strainer/Sieve
· Sliced cherry peppers
· Sweet (and spicy/tangy) pickles
· White wine vinegar
· Garlic powder
· Onion powder
· 1 Can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
· Optional, sesame seeds
· Baby carrots, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, crackers, tortilla chips or toasted pita/naan style bread for dipping.
Directions:
1. Open one can of garbanzo beans and rinse with cool water. Pour into blender or food processor.
2. Lightly coat the garbanzo beans with onion and garlic powder.
3. Add one teaspoon of white wine vinegar.
4. Add four to five sweet pickle chips (approximately 1 – 1 ½ spears), and one to two teaspoons of the juice from the jar.
5. Add three or four cherry pepper slices and one to two teaspoons of the juice from the jar.
6. Blend until smooth, scraping the sides to ensure even mixing. The consistency should be moist but not soupy and hold its shape when stirred.
7. Chill for one hour or serve immediately with carrot, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, crackers, tortilla chips or toasted pita/naan style bread. Optional, garnish with sesame seeds or additional cherry pepper slices.

 

 

By: Shira Feder

Forward

(submitted photo)

The Pickles a Jewish food staple.

 

The pickle! That fermented flavor, that solidly sour mouthfeel, that palate-cleansing post hotdog taste. The bright green, with its violent crunch! How we Jews love our pickles! But how did this love affair begin?
Immediately I think of a time when Jewish pickle vendors hawked their wares on the streets of the Lower East Side. Only true history buffs will remember the pickle wars, where vendors competed for a monopoly on the pickle. These bold Jewish immigrants made the pickle synonymous with Jewish food, but to find out who loved the pickle first, we have to go back further than that. (This pickle history timeline reveals that pickles have been around for literally hundreds of years, buy we’re aren’t going back quite that far.)

It’s an Ashkenormative love story that begins in Eastern Europe. The Jewish ghettos were unsanitary. The winters were long. Fresh food was scarce. Eating well was expensive. There was only one solution.
It all started with pickling, that most Eastern European of habits. To get through the long and grueling winter months, food had to be pickled. Everything could be pickled, from lemons to carrots, with varying degrees of culinary success.

 

today.com

By: Bryanna Cappadona

( Sonic/Getty Images stock)

When it comes to pickles, we thought we’d seen it all.
But it turns out, when it comes to the tangy, sour, salty, briny treat, we’ve barely scratched the surface. Now, Sonic Drive-In is getting in on America’s pickle obsession

On Friday, the fast food chain revealed that it’s releasing a pickle juice slush this summer and it will likely be available in restaurants by early June.
“Quite simply, pickle juice is fun,” Scott Uehlein, Sonic’s vice president of product innovation and development, told TODAY Food via email. “Nothing says summer like a Sonic slush.”
The new flavor will be served at 3,500 Sonic locations nationwide. According to Food & Wine, which got a sneak preview taste test of the new slush at Sonic’s Oklahoma City headquarters, the drink’s syrup has a “sweet and tangy” punch to it.

Sonic’s new roll out is just the latest in a line of increasingly unusual pickle-flavored refreshers

 

 

 

 

By:Maxine Wally

Esquire

(Submitted Photo)

Sour, sweet, creamy, and crunchy

Ever try an Oreo cookie with a pickle slice on top? It might sound like the stuff of pregnancy cravings, but it’s a sour, sweet, creamy, and crunchy treat that satisfies all regions of your tastebuds. Consider The New York Times’ pickle and peanut butter sandwich on white bread, which divided the Internet last week, dead in the ground.

The tart snap of the pickle balances the sweetness of an Oreo, providing an incredible amount of juiciness to an oft-dry cookie crying out for companionship. There’s also a range of flavor possibilities: Don’t like dill? Top the cookie with a bread and butter chip. Perhaps you’re looking for more creaminess—pair that slice with a Double Stuffed.
The combo was born out of desperation. I couldn’t sleep one night and found myself scrolling mindlessly into an Instagram cooking video hole: disembodied hands under birds’ eye lenses, mise en place in perfectly portioned glass bowls. Somewhere in that hole, I came across a post boasting the benefits of the odd and tasty delight.
Both revolted and intrigued at once, I knew I had to try it.

At a dinner party the following evening, I gathered the courage to bring up the pairing to the remaining guests still hanging out and drinking wine. It just so happened that our hosts had a pack of Oreo Thins and a half-empty jar of spicy pickles on deck. Standing at a butcher block in the center of the kitchen, my friend sliced and crowned each cookie with a dripping sliver. We tossed them into our mouths and, almost in unison, emitted the sounds of our approval.
The hot, vinegar-laced pickle both cut through the sugar and added a succulent dimension to the Oreo. We chewed and nodded, nodded and chewed, until finally I said: “That’s good. OK, that’s really good.”

So meet your new favorite snack, and relish the reactions of friends who think you’ve finally lost it. And if you decide the combo’s not for you—well, now you’ve got pickles and Oreos in the cupboard. You’re welcome.