National Pickle Day is observed annually on November 14. It may be a Dill, Gherkin, Cornichon, Brined, Kosher Dill, Polish, Hungarian, Lime, Bread and Butter, Swedish and Danish, or Kool-Aid Pickle. Whichever is your choice, eat them all day long.
The term pickle comes from the Dutch word pekel, meaning brine. In the United States, the word pickle typically refers to a pickled cucumber.
– Each year in the United States, 5,200,000 pounds of pickles are consumed.
– Pickles are a great snack, low in calories and a good source of vitamin K, though they can be high in sodium.
– When served on a stick at festivals, fairs or carnivals, pickles are sometimes known as “stick pickles”.
– A rising trend in the United States is deep-fried pickles which have a breading or batter surrounding the pickle spear or slice.
– For thousands of years, pickles have been a popular food dating back to 2030 B.C. At that time, cucumbers were imported from India to the Tigris Valley where they were first preserved and eaten as pickles.
– Cleopatra attributed her good looks to her diet of pickles.
– Julius Caesar fed pickles to his troops believing that they lent physical and spiritual strength.
The holiday has been celebrated on various days for nearly 70 years, starting with encouragement from the Pickle Packers Association in 1949.
A pickled cucumber (commonly known as a pickle in the United States and Canada or generically as gherkins in the United Kingdom) is a cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or other solution and left to ferment for a period of time, by either immersing the cucumbers in an acidic solution or through souring by lacto-fermentation.
- Pickles have been around since ancient times, although there is some disagreement as to when exactly in history people started eating them. Some believe the first pickle was created in Mesopotamia in 2400 B.C.E. Others believe it was as early as 2030 B.C.E.
- The phrase “in a pickle” was first introduced by Shakespeare in his play, The Tempest. The quotes read, “How cam’st thou in this pickle?” and “I have been in such a pickle”
- Approximately 100,000 to 125,000 acres are devoted to growing pickling cucumbers in the United States.
- In the U.S., pickles are made in 30 of the 50 states with Michigan and North Carolina making the most pickles.
- Kool-aid pickles are made by soaking dill pickles in strong kool-aid and are very popular in parts of Mississippi.
- A town in Michigan that claims to be the Christmas Pickle Capital of the World holds an annual pickle parade led by the Grand Dillmeister.
- You can hear the crunch of a good pickle at 10 paces.
- According to the U.S. Supreme Court, pickles are technically a “fruit” of the vine (like tomatoes), but they are generally known as a vegetable.
- During WWII the U.S. Government tagged 40 percent of all pickle production for the ration kits of the armed forces.
- Americans consume more than 9 pounds of pickles per person annually.
- In Connecticut, in order for a pickle to officially be considered a pickle, it must bounce. (provided by Austin Greenwood)
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