I suppose I wouldn't be the first person to be obsessed with a quality pickle. This is serious. I am talking about the raw, cucumber-gherkin, fermented, kosher, garlic pickle. I am not from New York or New Jersey. Although, let's face it - these deli-people know what they are doing.
My love affair with the kosher dill started in Toronto, Canada. Inspired by my older sister, Patricia, and a jar of a Ontario-made koshers called Strub's, I was exposed early on to wonderful-tasting pickles that provide excellent health benefits.
These full-sour delights kept my foundational view of what a pickle should be. I suppose it is also coincidental that the parent company who ultimately bought Strub's pickles, Whyte's, is located in Sainte-Thérèse (my namesake), Québec. Or maybe it is a sign. Strub's Kosher Dills are barrel-cured and the brine is cloudy. The recipe, if you want to try your hand at it, is found here. They're delicious. And wonderful. And what I was raised on.
When my family moved to the US in Oklahoma, while I was still a teenager (circa 1995), there were no options available in Tulsa except so-called "pickles" containing chemicals, added sugar, and vinegar, usually found on the condiments shelf in a mainstream grocery store. In fact, the retail market for cucumber pickles in the United States is dominated by "acidified, pasteurized, and refrigerated products which are not fermented." (1)
Was I doomed (in this culture-shocked, godforsaken America - at the time) to be subjected to sweet, sandwich pickles? (I asked my mother to make her own). But, we clearly didn't know what we were doing. (I didn't have the Strub's recipe at the time - thank God for the Internet). After waiting about five years before health food stores started popping up in Tulsa, I finally found Bubbies.
Bubbies changed my expectation of the Kosher pickle and gave me an education about the actual value of eating fermented kosher pickles on a regular basis as part of a nutritious diet. There are a mere six ingredients in a jar of Bubbies Kosher Dills:
Cucumbers
Artesian Well Water
Garlic
Salt
Dill
Spices
No sugar or preservatives. And specifically, no vinegar. The brine for these full sours is cloudy and is supposed to be. They are low fat. And most importantly, they are wonderfully delicious.
History
There is a long history of the kosher dill pickle. From Egypt, to Greece, to the Bible.
It is believed that cucumbers were first fermented around 2000 b.c. in the Middle East. Early written records of cucumber pickles come from paper fragment remains of a play (The Taxiarchs) by the Greek writer Eupolis (429–412 b.c.), and pickles are also mentioned several times in the Christian Bible. (1)
According to the New York Food Museum, Cleopatra attributed her good looks to a hearty diet of pickles (circa 2400 BC) and Aristotle praised the healing effects of cured cucumbers (circa 850 BC). Reference to the almighty pickle did not allude Shakespeare, either, who wrote:
“What say you? Hence, Horrible villain! or I'll spurn thine eyes like balls before me; I'll unhair thy head: Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire and stew'd in brine, Smarting in lingering pickle.” (2)
And the big secret behind America's namesake, Amerigo Vespucci, is that before he set out to explore the New World, he was known as a "pickle peddler" in Seville, Spain. Apparently, he touted the nutritional benefits of pickles for treating scurvy on long voyages.
Americans love pickles so much, New Yorkers celebrate Pickle Day each year with a festival. National Pickle Day is November 14. I am down.
Nutritional Benefits
So, what's the deal with the dill?
Besides the historical and cultural love of pickles, especially here in the United States, there is something tremendously healthy about these fermented cucumbers. As it turns out - they are chalk full of probiotics:
Fermented vegetable products are microbiologically safe, nutritious, and flavorful; have appealing sensory characteristics; and can be conveniently stored for extended periods without refrigeration. (1)
Fermented pickles, if truly fermented naturally and without interference, can provide the body with beneficial probiotics. Probiotics have been shown to provide health benefits and reduce the effects or length of certain medical conditions. The generally accepted definition of "probiotics" is "live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host." (3)
The field of probiotics and symbiotics has now grown tremendously. The interested clinician should search the literature, and use the probiotic in the particular clinical situation that is needed. (4)
For purposes of nutrition when it comes to pickles, we think mainly of "the strains classified as lactic acid bacteria" and "the ones with the most important properties in an applied context are those belonging to the genera Lactococcus and Bifidobacterium." (5)
The idea is, if you're consuming pickles that are truly fermented, using the raw, lactic-acid fermentation process, you may be gaining the following health benefits:
improvement of intestinal health;
enhancement of the immune response;
reduction of serum cholesterol; and
cancer prevention. (5)
Not only that, eating pickles provides a nice light snack, no fat, low calories, (a little bit or a lot of sodium), but they are also full of gut-beneficial probiotics that actually help your body maintain a healthy balance of flora.
Lactic acid fermentation has multiple effects on the nutritional value of food by modifying the level and bioavailability of nutrients, by interacting with antinutrient compounds or the gut microbiota and even the human immune system. (6)
And, what I've discovered, is pickles and "pickle juice" or the brine, can provide an amazing hangover cure. There have been many a proponent, including myself, that have used pickle juice the morning after. Similar to a Bloody Mary, for example, many bars and restaurants serve pickle-juice-inspired morning after cocktails, commonly known as the "pickleback."
My brand recommendations
I know I have a clear lack of East Coast varieties - and so please include your recommendations in the comments. Especially the raw, lactic-acid fermented pickles with probiotics that just also hit the spot.
There. This is my homage to the "pickle."
(1) Breidt, F., McFeeters, R. F., Perez-Diaz, I., & C.-H. Lee. (2013). Fermented Vegetables. Food Microbiology: Fundamentals and Frontiers, 4th Ed. 33, 841-855. doi:10.1128/9781555818463.ch33.
(2) Anthony and Cleopatra, Act 2, Scene 5.
(3) Joint FAO/WHO Working Group Report on Drafting Guidelines for the Evaluation of Probiotics in Food London, Ontario, Canada, April 30 and May 1, 2002.
(4) Floch, M.H. (2014). Recommendations for Probiotic Use in Humans—A 2014 Update. Pharmaceuticals, 7(10), 999-1007; doi:10.3390/ph7100999.
(5) Kechagia, M., Basoulis, D., Konstantopoulou, S., Dimitriadi, D., Gyftopoulou, K., Skarmoutsou, N., & Fakiri, E. M. (2013). Health Benefits of Probiotics: A Review. ISRN Nutrition, 2013, 481651. doi:10.5402/2013/481651. See Table 1: Microorganisms considered as probiotics.
(6) Drosinos, E. H., & S. Paramithiotis. (2013). Nutritional attributes of lactic acid fermented fruits and vegetables. Agro FOOD Industry Hi Tech, 2012, 23(5), 46-48.