The Pickle Posse

There is an amazing article online at The New York Observer by Meredith Bryan that discusses the current revival of pickling in Brooklyn today.

Read The Pickle Posse here.

Pick up a print copy too-available now!

The Pickles of Aberdeen

I grew up in small town. I mean, a SMALL town. Aberdeen, MS is a beautiful town of maybe 6500 people. We have gorgeous antebellum homes, more churches than restaurants and...um...let's see...oh yeah, a place that used to be a gas station but now has a flashing yellow arrow sign that says "Let Us File Your Taxes" on one side and "BBQ Pig Snoots" on the other. It was an ideal place to grow up as I pretty much had free reign of the whole town as far as my roller skates, bike, and later, scooter could take me but I left when I was about 16 and didn't do much lookin' back.

Now that I'm so far away I can appreciate most of the small town charm and character Aberdeen has to offer (for a few days at a time at least). Like now, I don't mind eating with my parents at Miss Lackey's Town & Country Fish & Steak House (I love saying the whole name every time instead of just calling it "Miss Lackey's like everyone else (simpletons!), in fact I insist on a meal there every time I'm home-they serve chicken "nuggets" that are really more like chicken "softballs" and some nights they have live country music that really compliments the melted Parkay on my baked 'tater. There's another local treat I seek out every time I'm home and that of course would be pickles from the hardware store. Yeah, the hardware store!



Lann Hardware store to be more clear...oh, still confused? Well, welcome to Aberdeen! The local hardware store on main street has been family run for 3 generations and inside you'll find not only your basic tool needs but also an impressive collection of taxidermy, a display of local Aberdeen history and even a snakebite kit or two and yep, some of my favorite pickles.




I thought I knew everyone in Aberdeen or at least thought my mother did but it turns out neither of us know much about "The Pickles of Aberdeen". All I know (so far) about these pickles is what I've gathered from the small label on the jar. There are 2 varieties from "Mike's Farm":Doris'HOT Pickles and Mike's Farm X-tra HOT. I plunk down 4 dollars for each jar every time I'm home and eat as many as I can since I can't bring them back with me on a plane. I also horde them around my parent's house and wait for my mother to mail them to me once I'm back in Brooklyn. There is something about these pickles that just tastes HOME made.. I can't explain it. I eat plenty of small batch pickles that are "homemade" and I even eat my OWN pickles that are homemade, but they just don't taste like my Aberdeen pickles. Is it the homegrown cucumbers or the grapeleaves or something in the water?

I love my Aberdeen pickles and I was super, extra surprised when I MET ONE at Pickle Day back in October (you thought I was done with Pickle Day didn't you?).

Callie Alexis Pickle Turner walked up to my tent on Pickle Day with no prior knowledge of my existence (shameful) but she was eager to get her picture taken with the giant pickle to show off to her family. I quickly learned that her family's last name is Pickle and she had recently moved to New York and HAD to check out the festival that as far as she knew, was for her and her family. As soon as I heard her Southern accent I did what every good Southerner does. .. I tried to figure out if we knew any of the same folk. First I asked where in the south she was from and she said "well, my license says Arkansas but really I'm from Mississippi". Wow-ME TOO I exclaimed, "where in MS"? When she replied "Oh a little town called Aberdeen" I could have been knocked down with a feather, as they say. An Aberdeen Pickle walked right up to me at Pickle Day!

We posed for a photo-me with the pickle and the Pickle in the Barrel.




I mentioned the other Pickles of Aberdeen and told her to try them next time she's home, but if I get home and find Lann Hardware store out of pickles, I'll know it was a mistake to tell The Pickles of Aberdeen about the pickles of Aberdeen!

Screaming Pickle Sauce

Dear Moon River Brewing Company,
I recently ordered and received my shipment of your Screaming Pickle Sauce and I noticed on the back in the nutritional information it says there are 30 servings per bottle. So can you please explain to me WHY, after my first time using it, that less than HALF the bottle is left?






Luckily I ordered your 5 bottle package so I should have at least enough to see me through the weekend. That is, if I use a little restraint and we all know I'm no good at that, so if you are open to consumer suggestions I would like to ask that you crank this stuff out and sell it in 1/2 gallon jugs like the geniuses over at Franks Red Hot Sauce.
Sincerely,
Pickle Freak

" A sadistic blend" is RIGHT. The strong pickle flavor is what you notice first but the serrano chili heat sneaks up on you, especially when you've dumped half a bottle on your lunch. I don't know what you're really supposed to eat it on, but for me, the answer is EVERYTHING. If I had enough I'd give bottles out to Trick or Treat-ers, but I don't, so stay away kids.

6 Minutes In: I'm on Pickle Club TV!

Click this link to take a video tour of Pickle Day 2009 and then book your flight for next year's event! You can see all the pickle celebs and even me and the lovely Pickle Girl. Go ahead, click!

9th Annual International Pickle Festival, NY, NY

Sampled

Pickle Day (yep, STILL talkin' about it!) is all about the samples and there were so many great vendors at Pickle Day this year I didn't even get to check them ALL out.


I was pleased to be stationed all day right next to my faves, McClures Pickles,where the line for pickles and samples went on forever. I didn't linger around the free samples and pretend like I'd never had their pickles before, well, because they know me too well, but I DID get to meet Daddy McClure this year and that was a real treat. It was an honor to meet him and he couldn't have been nicer and more proud of how far his 2 sons, Joe and Bob, have taken the family recipe. I walked away with a jar of pickles, a t-shirt and a fantasy of a soap opera worthy plot to fake DNA samples to prove I'm a long lost McClure daughter...and I'm hoping that next year I'll meet my real mother at the festival.

I didn't have to even ASK Rick Field of Rick's Picks for a lock of hair to prove our kinship, he just came right on over to my tent like family...we posed for family portraits with the big pickle but damn if my camera didn't get stolen. Rick was being generous that day with other samples, pickle related samples, as well-he had fried smokra and Handy Corn quesadillas. I haven't officially talked about Handy Corn yet, but oooooh lordy, is it good. It's a delicious corn relish with a pickle twang that drives me wild! I'm really sorry that I missed out on those samples, but it feels good to use a little restraint every once in awhile...I guess...


One area where I did NOT use any restraint was at the Brooklyn Brine table. I'd only become aware of these new local picklers a couple of weeks before the big day and I'd just gotten my first jar a few days before. I started with a jar of their Hot Heirloom Cucumbers and was immediately smitten. When I ate one of the peppers from the jar and had to lay down for 20 minutes afterwards, I knew, I was in looooove. I made my way down the table of samples and tried to keep my cool. I failed. Brooklyn Brine is a brand new pickle company that uses all organic, local produce and is producing an amazing line of products that changes all the time. I hear from a well connected source that their latest whiskey barrel cured sours are ready and I can't wait to try them! I'll be writing more about these guys for sure and am really excited for me...I mean them.

Olan Who?

What the hell? It's already been over a week since Pickle Day and I've barely gushed about it, so here goes, Part UNO of my possibly endless Pickle Day recap:

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. OH my god...it was soooooo much fun. I barely slept the night before and got up early that morning so I could meet Pickle Girl for a quick shot of caffeine and sugar before we headed over to set up our tent. Oh yeah, me, Pickle Girl and Pickle Club TV shared a tent this year. I didn't just work Pickle Day this year, I WORKED Pickle Day this year.

In pickle days of past (yore?) I always made it a point to have my picture taken with the big green papier mache pickle I always found there, lingering about the festival, so this year, when the organizer of the event said "sure, you can help!" I knew right away what I wanted to do. I wanted to set up a photo backdrop that would give Olan Mills and K-Mart a run for their holiday photo money.

And by damn, I think we succeeded. I'm framin' mine.



I posed for this picture at least 20 times that day with ALL the pickle celebrities so you can imagine how crushed I was later in the day to realize my camera was missing. I'm convinced that Pickle Day has been and always will be a crime free event, so if you picked my camera up by mistake, it's OK. We can meet and you can return it and we'll relive the whole day when we browse through the pictures again!

But in the meantime, if any of you out there have pictures from the big day, please upload them to the flickr group I created (you have to have a yahoo/flickr account and then joing the group) OR you can just email them to me...

Ok, next time I'll tell you all about the pickles I ate and the pickle I met!

Fermenting Re-Birth!

Today in Philly is the Fermentation Festival and if the sound of THAT doesn't get you goin' you need to re-think your life!

All good things in life are fermented!

Here's a great article about today's event featuring a quote from guess who!