How to put some Pizazz in your Pickling

How to put some Pizazz in your Pickling

3 Ways to Celebrate National Pickle Month

When is National Pickle Month?

The month of July is always National Pickle Month! This is a Food holiday month and I have put together some ways you can get into the groove and celebrate.

What is this Holiday for?

This Holiday is set aside for people to appreciate the pickle and I will try to put a healthy spin on it for you. It doesn't matter if it's a sweet pickle or a dill pickle, most of us love pickles in one form or the other at least I do and I hope you can enjoy them with me. During this month make it a point to add more pickles in your diet and familiarize yourself with all the different ways pickles can be used in our daily menu or in cooking. Make it fun for you and your family and put some pizazz in your pickling. We already know how popular and traditional it is to serve a pickle along side a sandwich for lunch so make this month fun by planing more juicy pickles on your plate.  Maybe you would like to learn to grow cucumbers so you could can your very own homemade pickles. It doesn't matter how you celebrate National Pickle Month at all, just as long as you do! So let's go!

What the meaning of a Pickled Cucumber is and it's Origin?

Pickled Cucumber
A pickled cucumber, most often simply called a pickle in the United States and Canada, is a cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or other solutions and left to ferment for a period of time.

Origin
Cucumbers were probably first pickled 4400 years ago in Mesopotamia. In India, pickles were well known by the Vedic period.

The pickling process was also known to the Ancient Greeks. Aristotle is reported to have praised pickled cucumbers for their healing effects. Julius Caesar's soldiers ate pickled cucumbers as health aids; many other brine-soaked foods were part of daily life in Ancient Rome. Cucumber pickling remained widespread across the Levant and Maghreb regions, where it is still very popular today.

Pickled cucumbers became popular in the United States due to the influence of the cuisine of Central and Eastern European immigrants.

7 Types of pickles to familiarize yourself with

Gherkin
A gherkin is not only a pickle of a certain size but also a particular species of cucumber: the West Indian or Burr cucumber (Cucumis anguria), which produces a somewhat smaller fruit than the garden cucumber (Cucumis sativus).[4] Standard pickles are made from the West Indian cucumber, but the term gherkin has become loosely used as any small cucumber pickled in a sweet vinegar brine, regardless of the variety of cucumber used.

Kosher dill
A "kosher" dill pickle is usually not kosher in the sense that it has been prepared under rabbinical supervision, which would ensure that no non-kosher ingredients were used, and that no utensil in contact with the pickles had ever been in contact with food that was not kosher. Rather, it is a pickle made in the traditional manner of Jewish New York City pickle makers, with generous addition of garlic to the brine.

Polish
Polish style pickled cucumbers (Polish: ogórek kiszony, plural: ogórki kiszone) are a type of pickled cucumber developed in the northern parts of Europe and have been exported worldwide and are found in the cuisines of many countries. As opposed to some other varieties of pickled cucumbers, they are prepared using the traditional process of natural fermentation in a salty brine which makes them grow sour. There is no vinegar used in the brine of a Polish-style pickled cucumber (Ogórek kiszony).

Typically, small cucumbers are placed in a ceramic vessel or a wooden barrel, together with a variety of spices. Among those traditionally used in many recipes are garlic, horseradish, whole dill stems with umbels and green seeds, white mustard seeds, oak, cherry, blackcurrant and bay laurel leaves, dried allspice fruits, and — most importantly — salt. The cucumbers are then placed under clear water and kept under a non-airtight cover for several weeks, depending on taste and external temperature. The more salt is added the more sour the cucumbers become. Since they are produced without vinegar, a scum forms on the top, but this does not indicate they have spoiled, and the scum is just removed. They do not, however, keep as long as cucumbers pickled with vinegar.

The concoction produced during the fermentation process is often consumed as a drink (a natural treatment against hangover, rather).

In Poland they are traditionally served as a side dish to vodka.

Lime
Lime pickles are soaked in lime rather than in a salt brine. Vinegar and sugar are often added after the 24-hour soak in lime, along with pickling spices, although this is done more to enhance flavor than as a preservative.

Bread and butter
Bread-and-butter pickles are sweeter in flavor than dill pickles, having a high concentration of sugar added to the brine. Rather than being served alongside a sandwich, they are more often used in fully-flavored sandwiches, such as hamburgers, or used in potato salad.

Swedish and Danish
Swedish pickled cucumbers (pressgurka) are thinly sliced, mixed with salt and pressed to drain some water from the cucumber slices. Afterwards placed in a jar with a sour-sweet brine of vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper and parsley.

Danish cucumber salad (agurkesalat) is similar, but the cucumbers are not pressed and the brine doesn't have parsley. The cucumber salad accompanies meat dishes, especially a roasted chicken dish (gammeldags kylling med agurkesalat), and is used on Danish hot dogs.

Kool-Aid Pickles (a.k.a. "Koolickles")
Kool-Aid pickles (considered a delicacy in parts of the Southern United States[8]) are created by soaking dill pickles in a mixture of Kool-Aid and pickle brine.

Pickle Fun Facts to leave you with

• The mighty pickle is over 4,000 years old.
• The pickle was brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus.Picture of the first McDonald's Restaurant
• Like pickles? So did George Washington, John Adams and Dolly Madison.  Cleopatra claimed pickles contributed to her beauty.
• Americans eat about nine pounds of pickles a year.
• Dill pickles are the most popular.
• Pickles are mentioned at least twice in the Bible.
• If all of the pickles consumed each year were placed end to end, they would reach the moon and back 8.25 times
• How can I Celebrate National Pickle Month?
• Make your own pickles!  -  Hey have you ever tried it? The Internet is packed full of how-to videos on pickle making and recipes galore.
• Blog with us about it! -  We have a blog called "Everyday is a Holiday" so visit our pages and tell us about your favorite cleaning day or your favorite cleaner recipe.
• Send Free E-Greeting! -  If your ready to get together with your friends don't forget to invite them with these fun Internet Invitations.

I hope you enjoy these fun facts, tips, and a healthful ways to put some Pizazz into your pickling. Have a healthy and happy pickling day!

By, Natalie Pyles

Health and Fitness Expert, Nutrition Specialist, Author, and NSA Speaker