While making bread and butter pickles this weekend I got to thinking about the history of pickles so did a little research I will share with you. Pickles have a long history across many cultures and are thought to date back to 2030 BC in Mesopotamia when cucumber seeds brought from northern India to the Tigris Valley. Pickles are also mentioned in the Bible and Aristotle spoke to the healing power of pickles. The Romans pickled many foods for preservation purposes to consume during long trips. George Washington even had a collection of 476 different kinds of pickles.
The English word for pickle is derived from “pikel” meaning a spicy sauce; the northern German word “pokel” along with the Dutch word “pekel”, are used for spicy brine used for preserving and flavoring food. Pickles were popular in European and Middle Eastern countries especially among Eastern European Jews who ate them with black bread and potatoes. Even today, pickles are sold outside from big barrels on the lower East Side of NYC where you see all manner of pickled cucumbers on offer (i.e. sour, new, hot, half sour, three fourths sour, etc.) in this Jewish community.
Home pickling became easier and more sanitary when a Scottish chemist, James Young, created paraffin wax which created a seal for food preservation after which John Mason developed the Mason jar from heavy weight glass that withstood high temperatures required in canning and processing. Cucumbers are only one of many vegetables and fruits that are pickled around the world. Some examples include German sauerkraut, French cornichons, Middle Eastern/Mediterranean olives and lemons, Italian eggplant and peppers, Russian tomatoes, Korean kimchi along with Japanese plums and daikon radish.
The origin of our famous “bread & butter” pickle is said to have come from Omar & Cora Fanning when in 1923 they trademarked the name for their family pickles and Mrs. Fanning worked out an agreement with the local grocer to provide groceries, including bread n” butter, in exchange for her pickles. Pickle sandwiches were often eaten during lean years when other ingredients were scarce associating the bread and butter pickle name with the sandwich. Still others say the name emerged shortly after the Victorian Era when cucumber sandwiches were often served with afternoon tea. Whatever the case may be the combination of sweet and sour remains a favorite flavor in the world of pickles.
Americans love pickles today consuming 26 billion a year (9 pounds per person). They eat them straight out of the jar, on burgers, with sandwiches sliced, speared, whole, and diced in relish, spicy, sour and sweet. More than half the cucumbers grown in the US are made into pickles. They have important nutritional value as well. Raw fermented vegetables, including pickles, have good bacteria that inhibit the growth of harmful microbes in the gut, have a high concentration of vitamin C, help absorb iron and may even assist with weight loss.
Much more could be said about pickles but let me end by saying: “the pickling season is upon us; don’t stop with cucumbers!”