Local company tops pickle pizza craze

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By: Liz Shepard

Times Herald

Rhino’s Pizzeria’S Big Dill Pizza in New York. (Photo: Tracy Malloy)

 

LEXINGTON – It’s hard to not love pizza.

The crunch of a good crust, melted gooey mozzarella, some Parmesan and maybe basil and garlic.
And the endless choice in toppings. But a new trend has emerged and a local company is its surprising foundation. A pickle covered pizza recently hit internet stardom, with one video of its crafting at a New York pizzeria earning more than 26 million views.
Those pickles covering the viral pizza were produced in Lexington.

“It was pretty awesome to see obviously, but never in a million years did I think a pickle pizza would get 26 million views,” said Marc Gielow, Gielow Pickles’ farm and logistics manager.
Gielow is the fifth generation of his family to produce pickles and peppers in Lexington.

“We don’t cut corners and make a cheap product, we try to make a good quality product at a reasonable price,” he said. Gielow said most people don’t realize how widely his family’s pickles are distributed.He said the company employs between 300 and 350 people. The pickles they make are used by chains including Subway and Jersey Mikes and are sold by Gordon Food Services and Sysco.

If you want to buy them locally, you have to catch them at either the Port Huron or Port Austin farmers markets. Gielow said they no longer sell retail at the Lexington location, as the business has grown too big. Annually, the company produces about 25 million pounds of banana peppers and close to one million bushels of cucumbers.
And they’re getting bigger.

Gielow said annual growth is between 20 percent and 25 percent each year. “It’s a great feeling to know people love what we do. Obviously we have a passion for it because we’ve been doing it for five generations,” he said.

“To see other people love it is awesome.” Anyone looking to enjoy a pickle pizza with the Gielow Pickles is in luck.
The team at Sweetwater Gourmet Deli and Bakery in Lexington decided to offer a pickle pizza as a special one weekend this month.

Leiza Lee, one of the Sweetwater employees, said it was a collaboration of ideas that formed the garlic crust pizza with layers of olive oil, mozzarella, Gielow pickles, garlic, dill and topped it with ranch dressing.

But the plan to offer it only for the weekend didn’t go over well. “It kind of blew up,” said Nicole Graham, who saw the viral pickle pizza post. With the traditional components plus the delicious, the salty, crunchy, thin pickle chips take the pizza to a whole different level.

Graham said people are still coming in and requesting it, so Sweetwater is continuing to make it.
“Really cool to hear the feedback,” she said, which included “Everything I needed to complete my day.”

Lee said it was fun to hear so many people excited about the pickle pie. “It’s kind of exciting, something new and they like it,” she said.
While Sweetwater appears to be the first local eatery to offer a pickle pizza, the New York pizzeria that started the trend is continuing to pack in the orders for the Gielow-covered pies.

In August, New York based Rhino’s Pizzeria posted photos of its pickle covered pizza on Instagram, with the hashtag #BreakTheInternet. Tracy Malloy, owner of Rhino’s Pizzeria in New York, said going viral has been intense. “It’s been crazy, very crazy,” she said by phone Thursday.

Similar to Sweetwater’s story, Malloy said creating the pickle-covered pizza was a group effort sparked by an employee’s daughter who brought the idea home from a Pennsylvania pickle festival.

“It went crazy,” Malloy said of the release of the Big Dill Pizza, adding people have traveled from across the country to try it. While Rhino’s and Sweetwater’s pies are a bit different, they do share the same key component — the Gielow pickles. “They just have a really good flavor and they’re very thin, they’re not too thick,” Malloy said. “Just a really good pickle.”

She said their secret garlic sauce is also a key piece of the pie. Since going viral, they’ve started bottling and selling it at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Rhinossauces.
Marc Gielow said he hasn’t yet tried a pickle pizza, but he and his family are all fans of the product they’ve been making for so long.
“I have two boys who are pickle enthusiasts,” he said.

 

Head to Cidercade For Their Dill Pickle Cider

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By Catherine Downes

D magazine 

Dill Pickle Cider!!!

Last Monday night was riddled with losses. First, I lost at several rounds of Mortal Kombat. And then, I lost at Mario Kart. I never lose at Mario Kart. And finally, after 30 sweat-inducing, swear-word-fueled minutes spent shooting zombies in House of the Dead 2, rounds away from destroying The Emperor (a really, really big boss), there was a power surge. And the game restarted.

I would have left Cidercade with my head in my germ-covered hands, if it hadn’t been for a consistent bright spot throughout all of this: their Kind of a Big Dill cider.
The cider, made using Washington apples and dill pickle juice, sounds weird. And maybe it is a little bizarre. But it’s also balanced and delightful and worth a try.

The cider is the handiwork of Bishop Cider Co.’s production manager Ash Mutawe. “He apparently loves pickles,” says Bishop Cider Co. co-founder Joel Malone. “He wanted to make the cider and I told him no, I said: ‘trust me, it’ll be terrible.’”

 

Mutawe made it anyway. And it wasn’t terrible.
Apple juice is fermented, and then dill pickle juice is added, and then more apple juice is mixed in to balance it out. What kind of dill pickle juice? “The good kind,” says Mutawe. Vague, but let’s roll with it.

The outcome: a semi-sweet and smooth, apple-y beverage with a hint of dill. The cider, which is a whopping 10% ABV, is part of their small batch and experimental draft offerings. The full list is available online and is updated in realtime, so you always know what they have.

While Kind of a Big Dill may not be suited for mass production, Malone says that the cidery is about to can their tart black currant brew, The Dark Cide. “We’re still waiting on the cans to show up,” he says.

 

 

 

 

Can fermented food fight off colds?

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By ANDY CASTILLO

Daily Hampshire Gazette 

The organic dill and garlic dill pickles start with locally-grown organic cukes. Contributed Photo by Real Pickles/Valley Lightworks

Greenfield MA
There are many time-honored ways to preserve vegetables, such as canning or freezing.
But one method actually helps foster healthy gut bacteria, which can boost the immune system and aid in digestion.
That honor goes to fermentation, which is still a relatively unstudied scientific field.

“Fermented foods contain probiotic microorganisms that benefit human health in many ways. Lactic acid bacteria, a common group of microbes found within fermented vegetables, improve immune function and inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria within the body,” said Ana Maria Moise, a licensed nutritionist at The Nutrition Center in Northampton and author of “The Gut Microbiome: Exploring the Connection between Microbes, Diet, and Health.”
In order to get those benefits, though, Moise noted the foods must be raw and unpasteurized before fermenting to ensure the cultured microbes are still alive.

At a biological level, the healthy bacteria contained in fermented vegetables multiply and colonize the gut’s existing bacteria, crowding out any harmful bacteria and staving off diseases (and colds) before they happen, says Addie Rose Holland, co-founder of Greenfield-based Real Pickles, which sells naturally fermented vegetables throughout the northeast.
Over time, healthy bacteria that’s already on the vegetable breaks down some of the vegetable’s sugars into lactic acid, which acts as a natural preservative.

If raw vegetables are left to sit in a barrel without oxygen for about 8 months to a year, “in a lot of cases, the fermented version of the vegetable is more nutritious than the raw version,” said Holland, 39, noting they also add salt — which kills certain types of bacteria that can inhibit fermentation; gets the process started faster; and adds flavor.
Holland said that scientific studies have shown there’s more vitamin C in fermented cabbage than in raw cabbage.
“Through (the bacteria’s) processing of the fresh vegetable, they’re creating compounds and nutrients and enzymes that our body doesn’t produce on its own,” Holland said.

While there are supplements that can deliver specific strains of healthy bacteria, fermented foods — which also include products like yogurt, vinegar, hard cider, and craft beer — can be better because “if you’re eating fermented foods you’re getting huge diversity,” Holland said. And that’s on top of the nutrients raw vegetables already contain.
Additionally, although it’s known that healthy bacteria is good for health, Holland said scientists haven’t identified which bacterial strains are the best for gut health, or how to enhance those strains in fermented foods.
“We know that microbiomes are important,” Holland said. “There’s still this huge gap in scientific understanding as to why probiotics are good for health.”
At least in part, Holland suggested that the research gap stems from the fact that fermented foods fell out of favor in America in recent decades and were replaced by vinegar pickles — which are preserved with boiled vinegar and salt and don’t have to be refrigerated. But even though vinegar pickles might be easier to stock, they don’t have the same health benefits because they’re not fermented, she said.

“Fermented pickles are the traditional way of making pickles, and it’s a process that’s been used for thousands of years. The builders of the great wall in China were eating fermented pickles. The Romans ate sauerkraut,” she said. “It’s a food that spans cultures all across the world, and is a really important part of traditional healthy diets.”
More recently, as people have realized the health benefits of fermented foods, Holland says they’re enjoying a resurgence.
When she and husband Dan Rosenberg, 42, started Real Pickles in 2001, Holland said they were one of only a handful of businesses nationwide producing fermented pickles. Rosenberg, who discovered fermenting at a farming conference at Hampshire College, and Holland, who also works at the North East Climate Science Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, both have degrees in geology.

These days, Holland estimated there are “dozens (of fermented vegetable businesses) for sure, if not over a hundred.”
Each year, Holland says they process about 300,000 pounds of organic vegetables from area farms like Atlas Farm, Red Fire Farm, Chamutka Farm, Kitchen Garden Farm. Holland noted they buy their products from farms that don’t use harmful chemicals because they believe a better vegetable makes for a better, more healthful, fermented veggie.
These days, their products — fermented beets, cucumbers, cabbage — are sold in supermarkets including Whole Foods and Big Y across New England, and in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

“There were a few years when we were still one of the only businesses doing this, and it was really hard for us to keep up with the demand,” she said, noting they’ve intentionally kept their business small, and recently converted it into a worker-owned coop.
That cultural renaissance is transitioning into renewed scientific interest. Locally, the nature of bacteria and microbes in fermented vegetables was the focus of a recent study by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“We were interested in fermented foods and beverages in general … Is there a risk for disease causing bugs (in fermented foods)? How can we predict product outcomes?” said David Sela, assistant professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Sela facilitated the study along with undergraduate student Jonah Einson and research fellow Asha Rani, and others from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
The study, which was conducted at Real Pickles and took about a year and a half to perform, looked at microbiome communities in the Greenfield facility. The researchers also collected data on the vegetable’s microbes at specific times during the fermentation process. Sela said they found a distinct difference in microbiome communities between the area where raw food is processed and the fermenting room.

While this wasn’t a surprise, Sela said the data they collected and sifted through could lead to future studies and a better understanding of how to enhance nutrition in fermented foods, and possibly decrease the amount of food that’s spoiled, among other things.
“There is much more work that needs to be done. We’re looking forward to playing our part, as small as it may be, and supporting the community that emerges,” Sela said.
For the greatest health benefits, Moise noted that most traditional diets incorporate small portions of fermented foods in every meal, along with other types of foods that are high in fiber.
“I encourage my patients to incorporate complex carbohydrates such as legumes and beans, cooked whole grains, as well as non-starchy vegetables like asparagus, onions, garlic, leeks, dandelion greens, all of which contain prebiotic fiber that feed probiotic bacteria,” she said.
Looking ahead, in future studies, Holland says she’s hoping that scientists can quantify the impact that organic farming methods have been sprayed by chemicals, have on the final fermented product.

“We think it’s very important the vegetables coming from the farm are rich in diversity, microbally, which means that it’s really important that they’re coming from organic farms that aren’t using herbicides, pesticides, things that might kill that microbial diversity,” Holland said. “It’s intuitive for us that buying healthy vegetables makes for a healthier product. But scientific documentation of that would be amazing.”

 

 

 

 

Lower East Side’s Pickle Day returns for its 19th year of crunchy tradition

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By Gabby Shacknai

amNewYork

The Lower East Side’s annual Pickle Day returns Oct. 14 on Orchard Street. Photo Credit: Lower East Side Partnership

 

There are few things as emblematic of New York City as a signature yellow cab or a slice of pizza; but to those on the Lower East Side, there exists nothing of greater pride than the pickle.
The pickle invokes a universal memory of a bygone era for generations of New Yorkers, and the crunchy snack is actually older than the city itself. A non-refrigerated alternative to vegetables in the barren winter months, the New York pickle harks back to the earliest settlers, when the Dutch and later the English brought them from Europe.
During the early 19th century, mass immigration brought on a boom in pickle production, and non-English speaking Polish, German, and Jewish immigrants began selling their pickles to customers on the street using pushcarts. The first peddlers appeared on the Lower East Side in the 1860s, and by 1900, there were about 3,000 pickle vendors throughout the city.Orchard and Essex Streets soon stank of dill and garlic, spilling into walls and tenement buildings in the area, and a citywide fight against the pickle began. By 1940, New York City had banned all street commerce, forcing many picklers to close shop, and only a handful are still around today.

Bringing the pickle to the 21st century
The Lower East Side Partnership’s Pickle Day, which will mark its 19th year on Oct. 14, is “a literal slice of history.”
Although the Tenement Museum takes on the task of retelling the neighborhood’s history year-round, Pickle Day truly brings it to life. The partnership recreates the “bargain district,” pushcarts and all, and features more than 50 local restaurants and vendors, including a few who helped put the area on the pickle map centuries earlier.“Pickle Day really seeks to bring back that community feel,” says Laura Carlson, the design and community development director for the Lower East Side Partnership. But the event welcomes far more attendees than the picklers of yesteryear ever saw, with an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people between Delancey and Houston streets throughout the course of the day.
And while a love of pickles is certainly appreciated, it’s far from necessary. Pickle Day also offers foods like pizza, paninis and ice cream to those who aren’t gung-ho for gherkins, or even for those who need a short break from the salty snack.
The community-oriented event prides itself on having something for all ages, with live DJs, a face-painter, dozens of games (including a pickle toss), balloon animals, and even a life-size, talking pickle on offer. Pickle Day attracts the very youngest of attendees to the very oldest, and four-legged canine friends also are welcome.

Picking the Best Pickles
One of Pickle Day’s shining moments is its annual pickling contest.
With more than 170 submissions just this year, the contest welcomes traditional pickled cucumbers as well as other pickled items — notable entries from previous years include pickled grapes and pickled watermelon. The pickling contest sees submissions from all over the world and this year, will feature a pickled item all the way from Japan.In the past, the contest’s winner has been decided by a panel of expert judges, but this year, the first round of judging will be open to the public. The food industry expert panel will then make the final verdict at 3:30 p.m.

The Pickle Guy(s)
For Al Kaufman, owner of local favorite and Pickle Day star vendor, The Pickle Guys, it’s all about upholding tradition. The pickle aficionado, who worked at Gus’s Pickles before opening his own shop, likes to think of the business as “a living museum.”
The Essex Street shop brings several barrels of its famous pickles to Pickle Day and gives its product away for free. “It’s about paying homage to pickles,” says Kaufman, “and we enjoy doing it.”
And the giveaways seem to pay off. “Pickle Day is always one of our busiest days in the shop because of all the new customers,” the owner explains, noting that many try one pickle at the event and walk to the Pickle Guys store, just four blocks away, to buy a jar or two to take home.
“We make things the right way,” Kaufman says, with reference to the lengthy process his shop goes through to get the perfect pickle. (Sour pickles take about three months to make, while half sour take roughly two weeks.)
Even the smell of dill and garlic that once haunted the Lower East Side has found a loving home at The Pickle Guys. “At least a hundred times a day, I hear people say, ‘wow, that smells like heaven’ when they come into the shop,” Kaufman says with a smile. The pickle vendor, which started with just five barrels of only the classics and has since added 35 more barrels to its regular lineup, some featuring pickled Brussels sprouts, mangoes and pineapple, has participated in Pickle Day every year since it began.
“It’s a really positive thing,” says Kaufman. “It has nothing to do with politics, or race, or anything controversial. It’s just a nice event that celebrates pickles.”
To join in on the pickling good time, head to Orchard Street between Houston and Delancey on Oct 14 from noon to 5 p.m.

 

 

 

 

7 Pickle Halloween Costume Ideas That Only True Pickle Lovers Will Appreciate

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By:Kaitlyn Wylde

Bustle

Pickle costume for every pickle lover .

While everyone else is dressing up as the things that scare them most this Halloween, why not try something different and dress up as something you love the most… like pickles? Yes, I am really suggesting that you dress up as a pickle for Halloween. They’re delicious, and it’s a really easy costume to put together. To prove it, I’ve put together a list of pickle costume ideas. The process for dressing up as the pickled cucumber is not necessarily intuitive, which is why I’ve taken some creative liberties and made a list that includes literal pickle costumes, and costumes that are inspired by pickles.

Perhaps the best reason why you should dress up as a pickle is that you will also have a great excuse to bring a jar of pickles around with you as an edible prop on Halloween. Also, you might want to keep in mind that being a pickle is a great asset to a group costume. If you have partner who wants to dress up as a sandwich or a squad that wants to dress up as a whole picnic lunch, you’re the perfect complement as a pickle. So lean into your sour and salty side and make Halloween a little weird this year by dressing up as an old, but seriously tasty cucumber. Because why not?

 

Pull-Over Realistic Pickle

$29.99
Party City
This pickle costume is technically a tunic, just a super weird one that realistically looks like a pickled cucumber at its prime.

Pickle Rick

Rick And Morty Pickle Rick Inflated Costume
$39.99
Halloween Costumes
If you’re a fan of the show ‘Rick and Morty,’ you’ll probably pick this pickle costume that’s inflated and a great disguise. I mean literally, no one is going to know that it’s you.

Athleisure Pickle

If you want to dress up as a pickle, but don’t want to wear a costume that hides who you are, go for this atheisure look. You’ll be the most comfortable person at the Halloween party, by far.

Dill Pickle Halloween Sweatshirt, $25, Etsy

Pickle-Inspired Hair

Jerome Russell B Wild Color Spray, $5.99, Target
If you’re going for a more abstract pickle inspiration, you might want to consider temporarily dying your hair green. If you’ve ever wanted an excuse to dye your hair a crazy color, here it is.

Meta Pickled Human Costume

Pickle Halloween Costume Shirt, $19.99, Tee Chamber
If your love of pickles is so real that you believe pickles are your spirit vegetables, you’ll love this meta costume that’s not a costume. Or is it?

Glam Pickle

Sexy Forest Green Dress, $57, Lulus
Velvet Beret, $10, Urban Outfitters
If you want to dress up like a pickle but you also want to make it fashion, this dress and beret combo will really give you the best of both worlds. In one light you’re a green goddess and with a little context you’re a gorgeous pickle.

Pickle Rick Make Up Tutorial

If you want to be really extra about your love for Rick and Morty, you’ll want to do this Pickle Rick face paint look. Just make sure you allot enough time to wash it off and start over again a few times, as this woman is a professional make up artist and definitely makes this process look easier than it is!

pickle

 

Get ready to swing with the Spicy Pickles

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By : 

Herald and News 

Joe Smith and the Spicy Pickles will bring vintage jazz and swing to the Ross Ragland Theater on Friday, Oct. 12.

Submitted photo

Joe Smith and the Spicy Pickles Jazz Band is a Denver-based vintage jazz band intent on bringing swing back to a new generation. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, the Pickles will take to the Ragland stage with a high energy authentic big band sound and look that celebrates the unique American spirit of swing.
Long before jazz became a spectator event, it was dance music. The big bands that played swing made their reputations on being able to flood the floor with dancers. Joe Smith & The Spicy Pickles are on a mission to bring back those days. Formed in Denver in 2013, and led by trumpeter Joe Smith, the band has been focusing on dance oriented swing since their 2015 release, “High Fidelity.” Now expanded into a septet plus a vocalist, they hope to revive the music that got America swinging.

Power, personality, wit
Joe Smith & The Spicy Pickles does a magnificent job of replicating not only the music, but the general atmosphere of the era as well. This is music that takes skill and dedication to perform correctly, as the high standard was set by the originators. The Spicy Pickles are recognized for their sensational live performances. This small group-style swing band packs a punch of power, personality and wit into each show with the beloved charm of big band swing from the late ‘30s and early ‘40s.

“You’re not going to want to miss Joe Smith and the Spicy Pickles,” said Michael B. Miles, associate director of the Ross Ragland. “Their music will make you want to get up and swing.”

tickets for the event are $15, $19 and $24 before transaction fees. Student, senior, military and low-income discounts are available.
The Ross Ragland Theater is at 218 N. Seventh St. Call 541-884-5483 for ticket information and reservations, or visit the theater’s website at www.rrtheater.org. The box office is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and two hours prior to show time the day of any weekend show.

 

 

10 surprisingly useful things you can do with a jar of pickles

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By:Taylor Tobin

Insider 

Get the most from your pickle jar. Flickr/apple_pathways

10 surprisingly useful things you can do with a jar of pickles.

After the summer cookout season dies down, a lot of us find ourselves stuck with half-empty jars of dill pickles wedged at the back of our fridges. Now that we’re not flipping burgers over a charcoal grill while sipping a cold beer or lemonade, it can be hard to find a productive use for these briny, crunchy cucumber chips and spears. But with a bit of creative thinking, you can give these BBQ sidekicks a second shot at glory.
Try these 10 less-obvious uses for your pickles (and the jars they come in).

-Come full-circle by using an empty pickle jar to make your very own batch.

Store-bought dill pickles have a place in the pantheon of traditional BBQ accents, but if you make the effort to pickle your own cucumbers, you’ll be rewarded with richer flavor and more flexibility to customize.
It can be tricky to find a second use for old pickle jars, largely because the pickling liquid imparts a strong scent and flavor with a tendency to linger. But if you use a discarded pickle jar to make your own batch, the abiding pickliness won’t be a problem. Plus, you can repurpose any leftover brine from the store-bought pickles to add an extra dimension to your own pickling liquid. For a full look at the process, check out this Lifehacker piece.

-Try a pickleback shot.

Pickle brine isn’t just good on a cucumber spear or in a savory relish. With its vinegar-based acidity and salt content, this liquid makes an unlikely but completely perfect partner for a shot of whiskey.
Invented in a Brooklyn dive bar, the “pickleback shot” involves taking a shot of whiskey (preferably, of bourbon), then chasing it with a shot of pickle juice. The flavors play off each other beautifully, giving you a robust one-and-done drink packed with enough electrolytes to make it an equally-excellent choice as a “hair of the dog” libation in the morning.

-Stay in the homemade-condiments game by using dill pickles in your own Thousand Island dressing.

A “salad dressing” that’s more famous as a sandwich spread (especially on Reubens), Thousand Island dressing comes with an air of mystery. In fact, it was for years the suspected key ingredient to the “secret sauce” used on Big Macs.
As it turns out, Thousand Island dressing includes mayonnaise, chili sauce, ketchup, horseradish, hot sauce, mustard, paprika … and, very importantly, dill pickle relish. If you follow the relish recipe above, you’ll be well on your way to whipping up your own Thousand Island dressing, and you can find a full recipe from HuffPost.

-Pickle juice will make your copper pots and pans sparkle

Thanks to its acidic nature, pickle juice makes a useful cleaning agent for copper pans and pots. Taste of Home tipster Agnes Ground insisted that you “save your pickle juice to clean the copper bottoms of your pots and pans. It works wonders!”

-Use pickle juice as a quick meat tenderizer/marinade.

Pickle juice includes both acid and salt, making it an ideal substance for tenderizing and marinating meat. Even tough cuts are no match for the power of pickle brine; just whisk the pickle juice with some minced garlic, ground pepper, and mustard, then brush the mixture on your meat of choice. Let the flavors get to know each other for at least an hour, then start grilling or roasting.
The result? A delicious, protein-packed dish that’s tender, tangy, and perfectly savory.

-Swap out your energy drinks for pickle juice

Speaking of electrolytes, pickle juice contains enough of these charged salts to make an effective and budget-friendly substitute for energy drinks like Gatorade and Powerade. When consumed in moderation, pickle juice can do everything from soothing muscle cramps to helping control your blood sugar levels to keeping you fully hydrated, according to Healthline. If you want to keep it simple, you can drink the pickle brine straight, but it works just as well when diluted with some H2O.

-Make your own relish.

A classic condiment for hot dogs that gets plenty of mileage during the summer, pickle relish can be used year-round to add an extra zing to sandwiches, cold salads, deviled eggs, and tartar sauce to pair with fried seafood. Sure, you can easily grab a jar of the ready-made stuff, but for a punchier version that you can easily customize to fit your preferences, use the dill pickles withering away in your fridge to create some handmade relish.
This recipe from Chef Michael Chiarello comes together in a flash and requires only some dill pickles, the brine they soak in, some hot or sweet mustard, and a few pinches of fresh dill. But if you’re in a creative mood, you can always add an extra kick of flavor by adding onion, garlic, shallots, or hot peppers.

-Put together a classic Cubano.

As anyone from Miami would be only too pleased to tell you, the Cuban sandwich (also known as a Cubano) is an absolute masterpiece. It’s rightfully famous for its use of slightly-sweet Cuban bread, roast pork, ham, and Swiss cheese, all pressed on a hot plancha until it fuses into one delicious and portable meal. The Cubano, however, includes one additional — and crucial —ingredient: dill pickles.
If you thinly slice the pickle spears in your fridge, they’ll be ready to layer atop the pork and ham and set your Cubano up for flavorful success, lending a welcome tartness to the richness of the sandwich’s other fillings. For a step-by-step assembly guide, try this recipe from Chef Jose Garces.

-Pickle juice can also be a gardener’s best friend.

Acidic soil can be a real boon to certain plants and flowers…and what contains lots of acids? Pickle juice, of course. According to One Good Thing, “hydrangeas and rhododendrons thrive in acidic soil. You can add pickle juice to the soil around these plants to help increase its acidity. Avoid pouring it directly on your plants, which could cause damage.”
OGT also praises pickle juice as a powerful weed killer, capable of taking down pesky plants like dandelions and thistles. And because it’s safe to consume, it’s a great pet-friendly herbicide.

-Freshen up the pickle jars and use them to store office supplies, sewing equipment, and other small goods.

Like their trendier cousins, Mason jars, the jars that store-bought pickles come in are the perfect size for holding small knick-knacks and craft supplies. But as we mentioned previously, the briny scent of pickling liquid can be tough to banish. Luckily, there’s an easy fix. On a HomeTalk message board thread about reusing pickle jars, commenter Loretta offers the following advice on freshening up these containers:

“If you dump some baking soda in [the jar] and allow it to sit for a few days with the lid on, the pickle odor will go away. I use these jars to hold pasta, rice, flour, sugar, etc. I have painted them, decoupaged them, and covered [them] with collages. They make great coin banks, can store just about anything, and can even be used for terrariums! The possibilities are endless.”

 

Now is a good time to catch up on ‘Kidding’

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By Alexis Nedd

Mashable

musical number starring something called “The Pickle Nickel Choir.

Image: Erica Parise/SHOWTIME

There used to be a tier of celebrity that seemed unimpeachable. They were the icons, the people whose front-facing personas dovetailed so nicely with public opinion that everyone felt like they existed in a world apart from regular humans and loved them for it.

In the current era of social media and paparazzi surveillance, it’s hard for anyone to maintain that level of fame. People now know too much about celebrities to hold them on a pedestal, and in the 24-hour entertainment news cycle it sometimes feels like the world is just waiting for them to crack.
Kidding is about what happens when they do.

 

In Kidding, long-lost superstar Jim Carrey plays Jeff Pickles, a Mr. Rogers–type personality whose musical children’s television show is universally popular. So popular, in fact, that when Jeff’s car is stolen, the thieves frantically return and restore the vehicle once they see his name on the registration. Mr. Pickles is a true icon, one of those characters as beloved as Betty White and as unchanging as Big Bird.

Mr. Pickles is also a man in crisis. One year before the events of Kidding, one of his twin sons died in a car accident, leaving a wound in the center of his family. In the time between the accident and the show, Jeff’s wife separated from him, his living son turned against him, he moved from his family home to a dingy apartment, and his grieving process…well, it never really existed.

 

What follows in the first two episodes of Kidding, which are streaming on Showtime, is a darkly funny portrait about what happens when the world’s most famously cheery and empathetic man doesn’t have an outlet for his valid negative emotions. After introducing Jeff as a kind but somewhat ineffective character (his own son calls him a pussy, and the kid’s not wrong), Kidding then begins to expose the hairline cracks in his psyche — smash cuts to objects breaking imply that Jeff is unaware that he has begun lashing out in violent outbursts, and he demonstrates a terrifying lack of boundaries on multiple occasions.

Nothing good seems to lurk in Jeff Pickles’ future, and his descent into whatever madness awaits him is set to be the crux of the show.
Now is a good time to catch up on Kidding because the first two episodes do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of setting the plot in motion. Side stories about Jeff’s son Will pay off when the high school freshman finds his own, likely destructive way of dealing with his brother’s death. Jeff’s sister has a whole host of her own issues, from a daughter who exhibits signs of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to a husband who appears perfect and falls very short of his image.
Getting to know the characters and where they are in reaction to the accident is crucial in understanding the relationships that drive the show, and with half hour episodes watching the first two together is roughly the length of any single HBO dramedy. It’s better and clearer to take them as shot and chaser.
And of course, watching Kidding is a great excuse to see Jim Carrey again. Sure, he popped up in a few indie movies here and there, but he has largely retreated from the spotlight since his heyday in the 90s and early 00s. It’s easy to see what about Kidding drew Carrey back, even he hasn’t been on a TV show since In Living Color ended in 2001 — it’s the story of an icon who is forced to grapple with the worst parts of being a human.
There are elements of Jim Carrey in Jeff Pickles. He’s as rubber-faced and goofy as ever in some moments, but is also straight-backed and stiff with repressed emotion. The

weight of being Mr. Pickles feels physical on his exhausted-looking face, but he also delights in being able to be kind and change the lives of children. It’s an actor’s dream role, and one that could hardly be filled by someone who doesn’t already remind the audience of the character.

Kidding is filled with musical moments, sharp dialogue, and lovely character moments, but it most importantly contains a low-key type of emotional horror that can only get more present over the course of the season. Now’s the time to hop on the Mr. Pickles train and see where it lands Jeff and the rest of his family.

Pickle Flavor Is Overtaking Avocados As The Millennial Staple Food Trend

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By: Gene Kosowan

the talko

Pickle Flavor is the new  food trend

 

A generation that’s known to be fickle is finding satisfaction with a pickle. No kidding here folks, it seems everyone’s favorite vegetable that’s fine in brine has become the trendiest taste among millennials.
It makes sense, actually, strictly on color alone. The green hue not only won’t clash with the vegetation that the younger set craves more these days, but it’s also in lockstep with environmentalism, another trendy piece of subject matter. Or maybe it’s that salty and bitter element tempting the tastebuds that reaffirms that millennial lives will continue to be a slippery slope until those dastardly boomers finally retreat to the sidelines.

egardless of the reasons, there’s no shortage of pickle-inspired nosh items out there for those impressionable teeth to chomp on, such as Boom Chicka Pop’s pickle-flavored popcorn or 365’s dill pickle potato chips. Between bites, wash all that munchable greenery with Gordy’s Fine Brine or even Sonic’s pickle slushie.
And as proof that a blend of pickles and ice cream is no longer the exclusive domain of pregnant women, New York-based Lucky Pickle Dumpling Co. is selling scoops of the frozen dairy wonder with the tarty taste of that cucumber concoction. For those into spirits of the bottled sort, a few clubs in the city are offering pickle juice as mixers for the hard stuff, especially whiskey.

Meanwhile, up in Canada, food bloggers are offering ideas for making preserves that are requisite consumables during the hardy winter months. The biggest trend in this traditional food prep practice? Well besides, pickles, how about pickled fruit, as bloggers regale their viewers with tips on recipes on how to brine-up their favorite fruit from mangos to peaches.

Further down south, where folks like almost everything crispy, pickled fried chicken has been the rage over the summer, even with KFC offering a variation of its famous cooked poultry with a briny taste to them. Ditto for tacos. And while the motives for adding pickles may not be anywhere as political as millennial tastes, it turns out the technique of adding brine to a carnivorous dish has the same effect as citrus juice on fish. It tenderizes the meat and makes it more flavorful.

Add Pickle Juice to Your Sautéed Vegetables

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By:  Claire Lower

Skillet

Add pickle juice to flavor your vegetables

Photo: Sébastien Marchand (Unsplash)

 

Trendy faux-dive bars are all about the pickleback, but back in my day, I had to sneak sips of the salty brine because it was “weird” and “the pickles were starting to dry out.” But pickle juice is more than a cucumber-preserving liquid, and I’m glad the world is starting to appreciate its broader culinary uses.

I love a bit of pickle brine in a martini, but I have recently been splashing it into hot, sputtering pans of buttery vegetables with great success. Rather than tasting aggressive and sour, the vinegar reduces to a slightly sweeter form of itself while cutting through some of the butter’s richness. There’s also no need to raid your spice rack, as the seasonings within brine do all the work in that department. I particularly enjoy a garlicky Clausen brine with crispy, buttery baby shiitakes. The meatiness of the mushroom greatly benefits from the whisper of acid, and the pickling spices flavor without overwhelming. Add a tablespoon of brine just before you take your veggies off the heat, let it reduce for a mere minute or two, and serve as usual. (Other vegetables are good too, but try it with mushrooms first; you will not regret your choices.)