Pickles
Tips & Advice to help you make your decision on Pickles
Pickles are a common sight on the lunch or dinner table, and for good reason. They can be a side dish or a snack, and they can be sour or sweet, but they are always delicious. A pickle, at its simplest, is a small- to medium-sized cucumber that has been soaked in a brine or vinegar solution and left to ferment for a period of time. The longer it ferments, the more intense the taste.
There's a lot more to it than that, however. Spices and herbs are usually added to the mix, bringing a variety of flavors to the pickle jar. Some, such as bread-and-butter pickles, are sweetened with a form of sugar. Other varieties include dill, garlic, horseradish or other flavorful ingredients like tarragon or mustard seed. Gherkins are smaller pickles, which are made from a species other than the common garden cucumber. American gherkins are most often made into sweet pickles rather than sour. In the U.K., a gherkin is a generic term used for any type of pickle. What they call pickles in England are referred to as pickled onions in the U.S.
Low in calories and high in fiber and potassium, pickles make a nutritious snack for people of all ages. See the links on this page for more information on pickles and pickling, courtesy of Business.com.
Buying Wholesale Pickles
Find fabulous pickles for your food businessBy Kristina Seleshanko Technically, pickles are any perishable food preserved in brine, but when most of us think pickles, we think of pickled cucumbers. A favorite American food, pickles are low in calories, have no fat and are high in vitamin C. In the United States, people usually eat pickles either as a "pickled spear" side to sandwiches and other foods, as a condiment on such foods as hamburgers, or chopped up and mixed with other ingredients (as in potato salad).
Pickle manufacturing creates thousands of types of pickles to choose from, but the most common types eaten in America are sweet and sour. There are also plenty of sources for wholesale pickles, perfect for your restaurant or other food business. When buying pickles for your business, follow these steps:
1. Consider which types of pickled products your customers are most likely to crave.
2. Research pickle manufacturers and pickle distributors carrying those types.
3. Purchase from a wholesale pickle company.
Find scrumptious sweet pickles
Sweet pickles are made in a brine of vinegar, sugar and spices, and as their name suggests, they're sweeter than other types of pickled products. Bread and butter pickles, sweet gherkins and candied pickles are among the types of sweet pickles available today.
Try:
Hausbeck Pickle Company carries a good selection of wholesale pickles, including sweet varieties. Southeast Wholesale Foods has a small line of pickles, including sweet pickles.
Savour sour pickles
Sour pickles are made in a brine without vinegar, and often have more garlic than sweet pickles. The longer the pickles stay in their brine, the more sour they turn. Half-sour pickles are more firm and crisp than regular sour pickles. Dill pickles are the most commonly eaten sour pickle in the United States.
Try:
Pickles, Olives, Etc. sells full sour and half sour pickles in a variety of size. Pickle Guys provide wholesale sour, half sour and "3/4 sour" pickles.
Select specialty pickles
There are a huge variety of specialty pickles, including Kool-Aid pickles (yes, they are made in a brine of Kool-Aid drink!), kosher (which may or may not be technically kosher, but do have a stronger garlic flavor than regular dills), and cucumbers mixed with special ingredients to make them into a spicy pickle.
Try:
Pickles-N-Things has many types of gourmet pickles, including sour mustard pickles and a variety of other pickles products. Moonbrine sells their special dill and hot pickles wholesale; click on the "Moonbrine Wholesale" link in the top menu for more information.
- For maximum business economy, don't throw away the brine or juices from your pickle jars. Instead, keep the juice refrigerated and use it as a marinade; allow peeled, hard boiled eggs or leftover vegetables (such as carrots, celery or broccoli) to steep in it to create your own pickled products; mix it with mayonnaise for a better potato salad; or add the juice to a Bloody Mary.
