• Holly Hughes, newsroom@mywebtimes.com, 815-433-2000
• The Times

Holly Hughes
If you are a fan of kimchee, you will love radish relish, a finely chopped version of pickling radishes that includes adding ginger, cloves, onions, pepper corn, garlic, cumin and coriander for a delicious slaw garnish or eating right out of the jar.

NDTV Food

Thanks to its odd appearance and elusive history, the Mexican sour gherkin is always confused with a cucumber or pickled cucumber. To confuse matters even further, it is also referred to as “cucamelon” or “mouse melon”. And did you know: A commercial London skyscraper is also nicknamed gherkin due to its resemblance to the fruit?

But we need to say it upfront: The Mexican sour gherkin is NOT a cucumber. Yes, they both belong to the same gourd family “Cucurbitaceae” and the gherkin is often called a “miniature cucumber” but they are from different cultivar groups. Only one species i.e. Cucumis Sativus is considered a cucumber, but the Mexican sour gherkin which is 1-3 inches in size belongs to Melothria, another genus entirely. So it is not an actual cucumber, but an honorary one.

Now, a “pickle” is basically any vegetable that has undergone the process of pickling (using vinegar, water and salt). It can be made from a large variety of foods such as cauliflower, mango, chilli, prawns – you name it. But it gets confusing because in America, Canada and Australia, the term ‘pickle’ is usually used to refer to pickled cucumbers. So, gherkins are pickles but pickles are not gherkins (just pickled cucumbers). It takes four or five hours to pickle a cucumber, but to pickle a gherkin – it could take up to 30 days. Some varieties of gherkins can be stored at room temperature in dark cupboards or pantries for up to two years, while others should be refrigerated as soon as the pickling process is finished. Since gherkins have high water content, the texture changes after being soaked in a brine solution because the solution replaces the water. The brine solution is often infused with different spices and herbs such as rosemary, tarragon, mustard seeds and even sugar to make it garlicky, spicy, sweet or tangy.

Note: Gherkins are best at a tender age, as the matured ones become bitter and spiny. They are low in saturated fat and cholesterol, but contain high amounts of sodium. Gherkins are also high on potassium, vitamin A and K.

The gherkin is in fact smaller and crunchier than pickle. Simply put, a pickled gherkin is crispier than a pickled cucumber. That’s perhaps why salads are being built around gherkin and it’s recently been popping up in food blogs, in cocktail recipes

by gardener-mixologist Amy Stewart, and making the rounds on Instagram. It tastes even better than it looks and is easy to grow. In the US, Canada and Australia, gherkins and pickles are usually eaten as a side dish or accompaniment with sandwiches, hot dogs and burgers for added flavour. You can also just sauté them briefly with oil and garlic and serve as a vegetable. They can also be enjoyed as desserts, if the gherkins are soaked in sugar syrup.

Pro Tip: When you’re buying pickled gherkins, they should be bright green and the vinegar should be clear. If you’re buying fresh gherkins, look for small, firm, unblemished ones.

In one of America’s greatest beer towns, you’ll find the briny goodness of the best pickle beer we’ve ever tasted.

by Matt Allyn   –   Popular Mechanics

Getty & Tarick Foteh

What turned out to be this summer’s hottest beer ingredient? Well, hops by the truckload as usual. But after that, came a bit of a surprise—cucumber.

But if you’ve ever had a thirst-quenching glass of cucumber-infused water, you’ll likely understand why. As Tyler DuBois, co-founder of The Real Dill pickle company, explains, “cucumber has a mild melon-like flavor and it’s very refreshing.”

Building up over the last two years, hundreds of cucumber-laden beers have been brewed into existence. But until recently, none impressed us enough to dispel these brews as just a passing fad. Then we tried the tart, salty Birth of Cool, and everything changed. Where so many cucumber beers taste like hoppy or bready melon water, this ale carried the essence of biting into a crisp pickle, complete with a briny finish.

Spangalang’s Birth of Cool

The beer was the brainchild of DuBois, who’d previously partnered with Great Divide Brewing’s Taylor Rees to make IPA-inspired pickles with barley and hops. The two became friends, and when Rees eventually opened his own operation in 2015, Denver’s Spangalang Brewing, DuBois suggested he try making a pickle beer for the brewery’s first summer.

Luckily, it turns out there’s a perfect beer style for handling such a briny brew. Called a gose, this centuries-old German wheat beer was practically extinct a decade ago. But the hazy, acidic concoction has experienced recent resurgence thanks to the booming popularity of sour beers. Part of the appeal for brewers is that while some tart ales can take up to three years to mature, the gose needs just two weeks due to a lactic fermentation that takes just two days (or less).

Several beer styles use a lactic fermentation, but the gose is set apart by the addition of salt. This gives a gose the same sort of satisfying appeal of another mildly sour and salty drink, the Bloody Mary.

“It was a no brainer when Tyler suggested it,” says Rees. “The fresh cucumber plays well with the acidity and lacto character, and the tartness and salinity of the style lend it to a pickle character.”

Compared to your average ale, there are two big difference in how a pickle beer like the Birth of Cool is brewed. First, to create the lactic acid sourness, Spangalang boils the wort (unfermented liquid with sugars from the barley) for just 10 minutes to sanitize it. Then, instead of boiling another 50 or 80 minutes and adding bittering hops, they cool it to 118 degrees, remove the oxygen by pumping in CO2, and then add a lactobacillus culture — an anaerobic bacteria that produces lactic acid. After 48 hours of letting the bacteria do its work, they fire the kettle back up, add hops, boil, and send the wort to the fermenter with yeast to become beer.

The second unusual steps begins a week later. DuBois and his crew put 120 pound of Kirby cucumbers through their juicer to create a potent juice. They let the liquid sit for five days to let the pulp settle out, and then Rees’ team adds it to the nearly-finished beer, along with pickling salt and coriander. The pickling salt, says Rees, also happens to lend itself to beer because the finer grain dissolves more easily. And coriander, like salt, is simply a traditional ingredient in gose beers.

That fresh-juiced cucumber, however, is what sets the Birth of Cool apart from its green gourd-infused peers. The liquid joins the beer just a day before it’s kegged and served.

Unfortunately, if you want to enjoy a glass of the pickle-epitomizing beer, you’ll have to visit the tap room in Denver. The young brewery operates on a small scale, producing just 20 kegs per batch. But know that if you make the trek, you’ll at least be rewarded with the most refreshing drink in one of America’s greatest beer towns.

By William J. Kemble, news@freemanonline.com

ROSENDALE, N.Y >> Town Board members have given conditional approval for the 19th annual Rosendale International Pickle Festival on Nov. 20 at the community center on state Route 32.

The festival site plan was reviewed during a meeting Wednesday, with the requirement that it received authorization from fire officials and the town Recreation Commission.

Festival Chairman Billy Liggan said up to 110 vendors are expected to be at the festival, which last year attracted about 8,000 people.

“Last year’s Pickle Festival did a donation to the Recreation Center of about $17,000 to $18,000 for a new floor,” he said. “So all the money the Pickle Festival makes goes back into our community in one way or another.”

Organizers are seeking to have the festival move toward family farms while still providing a wide variety of products.

“We have migrated away from the large pickle producers to smaller independent pickle producers from Vermont, Delaware, Manhattan, and the Hudson Valley,” Liggan said.

“We have the favorites from past festivals,” he said. “We expect vendors will include Pickle Licious and Gary’s Pickles … and we will also have international foods in a category for groceries. There will also be crafts people, so you can do some early holiday shopping without the dangers of Black Friday.”

The event will include competition for pickle producers for best product as well events for visitors. Included will be a pickle triathlon that starts with a pickle eating contest, a pickle juice drinking competition, and pickle tossing contest that has teams that have a pickle pitcher and another person who attempts catch the pickle with their mouth.

The festival is scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a $5 admission at the door. Information is available at (845) 204-8827.

By Ethan Levin   –   Daily Staff Reporter

Ann Arbor residents Wade De Vries, 3 years old, and his father Greg De Vries try pickles at The Eighth Annual Pickle Contest and Public Tasting at Downtown Home & Garden on Saturday.
Sinduja Kilaru/Daily

On Saturday morning, Ann Arbor locals and visitors puckered up to sample a selection of 43 pickled foods at Downtown Home & Garden on South Ashley Street — a store that has been around for more than a century.

The Eighth Annual Pickle Contest and Public Tasting is part of the store’s month-long showcase of locally created preserved food items.

Kelly Vore, Downtown Home & Garden owner and event coordinator, said the competition was one of several at the store this month that publicized the talents of food preservers in Ann Arbor. During the public event, participants were invited to sample as many pickled items as they wanted before voting on the entries they enjoyed.

The local picklers had the opportunity to receive a $100 gift card to the store if their entry received the most votes.

“Everything here is contributed by our customers, who are very generous with their entries,” Vore said. “We help them plan early in the season with their gardens, and in turn they share the benefits of the harvest with the community. You never know what you’re going to see.”

The number of entries has doubled since last year’s event, and Vore said pickling has increased in popularity because of its “trendiness.” Vore added that pickling and other methods of preservation are popular pursuits during summer, particularly following months of abundant harvest.

“The harvest changes every year — you never know exactly what to expect, but pickling and fermenting is definitely a growing side of the preserving business,” Vore said. “You’ve probably seen more pickles or preserved things in general at the grocery store. It’s a growing side of the industry.”

For several tasters, the event provided the opportunity to share a common interest among other members of the community. Many of those who came to taste the pickled foods said they never knew there were so many people who pickled in the area.

“I was kind of curious, because I love pickles,” said Ann Arbor resident Patrick Laughlin. “ I’m getting the impression that there’s a limit of one entry per contestant, so I guess people are more into pickling than I thought. What a nice way to spend the morning.”

Noting the resurgence of food preservation in Ann Arbor, Vore said her store is locally recognized for having original competitions that allow residents to try new foods, such as the 18th Annual Jam Public Tasting and Contest, which welcomed 52 jam entries last week.

She said the store’s model of preserved food competition has been around for decades.

“These are things that used to be down at state fair competitions 75, 100 years ago. In that vein, we’re keeping those kinds of traditions alive. People like to share their creative ideas and it’s very appreciated,” Vore said.

The 43 entries in Saturday’s competition were arranged around a long rectangular table in the center of one of the store’s rooms. To better categorize the broad range of pickled foods, the samples were organized into several sections based on flavor, including bread and butter pickles, dills pickles, sour pickles, various pickled vegetables and spicy pickles.

Competition between picklers extended beyond appearance and taste — contestants were encouraged to create a name that encapsulated the character of their pickled item.

“If you’re trying to start a rock band, and can’t think of a name, pull one from our ballots,” Vore said. “For example ‘Briana’s Beautiful Bread and Butter pickles’ or ‘Don’t Be Chicken — I’m Just a Hen of the Woods’ are some of the great names.”

Other popular names were “Butter Than Average,” “Tess’s Terrific Dilly Beans,” “Pucker Up!” and “Briny Bloods.”

Rackham student Alicia Stevers said when she spotted pickled chicken, she knew she’d have to try it while she had the rare opportunity.

“I think it was a really bold decision. I was expecting a lot of pickles and pickled vegetables — pickled meats weren’t really on my radar,” Stevers said. “I’ll try everything once; now I can say I’ve tried pickled chicken.”