Perfect Pickles

Pickles!  We love pickles so much. I’m surprised that we haven’t made any of our own (other than quick refrigerator pickles). 

I bought these sour sweethearts from the local grocery store, Deli 4 You, in Algonquin – where you can source your bulk pickles directly from a barrel. (BTW, they also sell sauerkraut and pickled herring in barrels, too).

Walking into this Polish grocery store, the smell of these pickled foods sends me over the moon. 

They remind me of the holidays – in which pickles and olives were the first things to land on the buffet table – perfectly positioned for pilfering by hungry and impatient kids.

I’m also reminded of fishing half sours and full sours out of briney barrels at Saul’s Deli in Berkeley As a deli counter worker, we wrapped them in cute, wax paper bundles ready to accompany a corned beef on rye to-go.

Pickles are omnipresent. Pickles are eternal. Pickles persist – because they are pickled! Before refrigeration, pickling vegetables is how we were able to enjoy vegetables during winter. To me, pickled veggies taste more fresh than canned ones. What do you think?  

I’m grateful to the heroic pickle that can add so much value alongside a sandwich, added to a vegan mayo chickpea salad, or among a pile of olives on a relish tray. 

Have you made your own pickles? Do you prefer sweet or sour pickles?