Stuff You Should Know - Short Stuff: Pickles

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Josh loves pickles but hates cucumbers. Chuck loves cucumbers but hates pickles. WHO WILL WIN?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh and Chuck C. here and Jerry's here and Dave's here and everybody and it's time to munch and Chow down on the short stuff about pickles one of the greatest things ever invented We've talked about this before. I know it makes me weird. I don't like pickles Doesn't make you weird. I just feel sad for you. I mean, I think most people love pickles. I have found some support in my family. My brother's son, my nephew are a nephew. I was about to call him my cousin

because now he's a grown adult if he feels weird to come in and nephew. But yeah, Noah is married now to his great wife, Ellie, and they're having a baby and Ellie hates pickles just like me. Wow. And Ellie. It's unusual. there's a stereotype of pregnant people wanting pickles in ice cream.

That's true. Actually, I should check back whether to see how that's going. And also, Ellie is equally annoyed as I am with this other fact, which is pickles are so ubiquitous on a sandwich platter or a burger platter or whatever, that they don't even tell you on the menu that they're gonna throw a big stinky pickle spear

on your plate to let that juice infect like six of your french fries that you then can't eat. You really like pickles? I tell people at restaurants, I was like, are there pickles? Yeah, but they're on the side. I was like, please do not even include them on my plate

because that juice will infect either part of my hamburger bun or like five or six french fries. And they're always like, geez dude, get a life. They say, you want me to hold the pickles and you say, I want you to take the pickles and hold them between your knees. Oh great reference. So let's talk about pickles, Chuck.

Not just how much you dislike them or how much I love them, but where they came from in the first place. That's right. They have been around for a very, very long, long time. 20, 30, BCE is when people started transporting cucumbers across Mesopotamia. And that is like, as we've learned over the years, like a lot of foods that we have now are variations on other foods that receive that variation because they were trying

to preserve it or transport it somewhere else. Yeah, those cucumbers, so it's in dispute. Our friends at Menow floss pointed out that it's possible that what they were talking about were snake melons, that later people transcribed or translated into cucumber, but that it wasn't actually cucumber. So we're not exactly sure when cucumbers hit the scene, but they did come out of the Mesopotamian area,

the Middle East. We do know that. They probably hit Europe in the early medieval era, and we know that pickles came before cucumbers. People were pickling things as far back as 9,000 years ago, according to ancient texts from China. They just weren't pickling cucumbers. They were pickling fish.

They were pickling pigs heads. They were pickling fish. They were pickling pigs heads. They were pickling the heads of their enemy. Anything you could pickle, they were pickling their livers. Yes, definitely, but they just weren't pickling cucumbers yet. Yeah, and that's generally what we're talking about here to be clear is the, we know you can pick a lot of kinds of things, but you know, the old pickle that's on the plate that ruins the French fries.

you can pick a lot of kinds of things, but, you know, the old pickle that's on the plate that ruins the French fries. Either came from the Dutch word peckle, P-E-K-E-L, or the German perco, P-O-umlaut. I'm sorry, that's not a newmlaut. I wonder if that's a mistake. Pucle. It's got to be pucle with an umlaut. Yeah, but it's a little, what do you call that accent in French? I think somebody fat fingered that one.

I think so, because I've never seen that in German. So I'm going to say it's supposed to be an in-lout, a POKEO, which means salt or brine. And they used to be, in the Victorian, in Victorian England, pickles was something that you ate if you had a lot of money. And they also served them, they would pickle them in the house and then serve them or store them rather, and what's called a pickle castor, C-A-S-T-O-R, which is, they would just kind of keep it

as a centerpiece on the table. And if you look up like an antique pickle castor, they're cool, they're beautiful. I don't know if you saw any pictures. I did. They look like sort of like a, like an oil lamp almost, like a really ornate oil lamp. You know what I like into too.

It occurred to me, remember those old straw holders, glass cylinder straw holders, you pull the top and all the straws came up with it and you just pull one out. Yeah. That cylinder, it reminded me of that, but you would pickles instead of straws. And with like a handle, pull one out. Yeah. That cylinder, it reminded me of that, but you were pickles instead of straws. And with like a handle, like an oil lamp handle.

Yeah. All the ones I saw had handles at least. Right. And you said that the pickle caster was associated with wealth, and it definitely was, but I saw in a site called Back to the Past Collectibles. They posted about pickle casters. And the way they said it, pickles themselves were typically associated with rural areas. So if you were an urban wealthy person

and you had a pickle caster, you're saying, I love pickles, obviously I'm not making them myself, but I have staff and servants that are making it for me check out all of my pickles. That's how rich I am. So it's weird that it was a country thing, but in the city it was a country thing, but in the city, it was a wealth kind of thing.

Yeah, and I think that fancy cast or display had a lot to do with that. Definitely. But yeah, for sure, rule, because people that farmed their own stuff and canned and preserved their own things, and still do that kind of stuff. I've told stories about my mom dragging me to the cannery when I was a kid. Of course, that's the people that are doing it themselves. Exactly. You know who love to pickle back then? The Virger. As far as commercial pickles that you can buy, like when they became a little more ubiquitous

and affordable, H.J. Hines, I was about to say canned up, but they were probably jarred originally. In 1860 is the first sort of widely available commercial pickled product. Yeah. And in 1893, there was this giveaway of a little pickle pendant at the World's Fair that year that was apparently so popular, it has gone down in history as like one of the most popular marketing plays ever. Yeah, I read about it in Atlas Obscura and they said that the Heinz booth was hidden on like the second floor somewhere. And so Heinz started giving out flyers saying come get your free memento

somewhere. And so Hines started giving out flyers saying, come get your your free memento. And it was just such a hit. Everybody wanted a free pickle for some reason. Like not even a real pickle, a little plastic pickle. It's a Hines on it that they were worried that the floor was going to give because so many people just swamped that place for so long. So yeah, it was a really big deal. It put Hines on the map like as a household word. Yeah. We said plastic and that thing had to be metal, right? No, it was a really big deal. It put hines on the map as a household word. Yeah, we said plastic and everything had to be metal, right? No, it was, I can't remember what they called it, but it was like a proto plastic. Oh, wow.

Crumbly, weird looking, it looked like it was whittled from wood. Not a pretty pickle at all, but we'll had to have it. And they'd attached it to like their watch chain or something like that and be like, oh, this, this is my hines pickle, Chachki that I got at the 1893 World's Fair. I think it's a great time for a break. Okay, we'll be right back with a Chachki joke. Tune in to the new podcast Stories from the Village of Nothing Much, like easy listening,

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It marks the first time Robach and Holmes speak publicly since their own names became a part of the headlines. This is the first time that we actually get to say, what happened and where we are today. Listen to the Aimean TJ Podcast on the I Heart Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts All right as promised we're back and I promise you a Chachki joke and When I was in Mexico City we went to the Leon Trotsky's house as part of the Frida Kahlo Casas Ultoor. I have a feeling I know where this is going.

You know right where it's going because my friend Tommy in the gift shop said look at all these Trotsky Chachkeys. And that became a fun thing that we said all weekend. Oh I bet. We said that a lot and we said one more marker read it a lot. Yeah, I bet. So Pickles, H.J. Heinz and 1860 did his thing. Klossin came around 10 years later in 1870,

Mount Olive in 1926. And the old store with the Vlasic Pickle is the relative newcomer on the block. Didn't start until 1942. Yeah, the store could spoke like Gracho Marx for some weird reason. That's because Gracho Marx was the hottest thing going back then. I guess. So if you want to make pickles, I've made pickles before. And I love making pickles. It's like one of the

like most rarger things you can do in your kitchen, no matter where you are. And it's very, very easy depending on what kind of pickle you wanna make. And what are you doing? I'm making salt-briam pickles, which is called lacto-fermenting, because what you're doing is creating a brine that actually encourages the growth of beneficial probiotic bacteria. And they go to town eating the sugars in the cucumbers and thus preserving it, but at

the same time putting out lactic acid, which prevents like dangerous bacteria from growing in your pickle brine. As long as your pickles are under the surface of the brine, and they make little glass disks to weight them down, it's really neat. Then you can, it's basically put the thing in the fridge and leave it for, I think, a few weeks, 30 days I think was the minimum and pull them out and you have these strange tasting pickles. They don't taste like the pickles you're normally used to because it's a different way to make them than the stuff you buy off the shelf at the grocery store.

All right, so that's the salt brine? Yes, salt brine or lacto fermented. All right, you've also got your classic dill. You're going to use white vinegar for those. And then all of these generally, except for your salt brining method, have some kind of vinegar, usually white vinegar. And then the spices are where that particular variety of pickle gets its flavor. So in the case of a dill, you're going to have mustard seeds, you're going to have dill, obviously.

Hopefully some fresh and some dried dill, that white vinegar, some white sugar, salt, obviously, and I think that's it, right? Yeah, I mean, you can get really creative with pickles. You can make them hot. You can make them garlicky. You can add whatever you want. But basically, the split between different types of pickles, whether you use a vinegar brine or a salt brine.

And the vinegar brine doesn't allow for beneficial bacteria to grow. So it's not a probiotic, like lacto-fermented pickles or kimchi or sour crout. Those are all salt-brine. But the vinegar-brine pickles still have health benefits. They found that it actually reduces or studies your blood sugar. And it can last for a while.

It's not just like you're eating the pickle and your blood sugar is okay and then you finish the pickle and it goes crazy. Right. It has like a lasting effect from vinegar. So no matter what kind of pickles you're eating, you and your blood sugar is okay and then you finish the pickle and it goes crazy. Right. It has like a lasting effect from vinegar. So no matter what kind of pickles you're eating, you're getting some kind of benefit from it. All right. Well, you also get your bread and butter pickle. That's the one out of any pickle that sounds the most appetizing to me. Even though I think the name of this episode will be pickles, colon, how to ruin a good cucumber.

Because I love a good cucumber. Cause I love a cucumber. Oh, I feel the exact opposite. I'm like, get that disgusting thing out of my face and listen to Pickle. You don't like cucumbers? No. Oh, man, I love a cucumber.

No, it's like, how can something be tasteless and taste disgusting at the same time? It's a mystery. Wow. I can't stand cucumbers. Maybe a cucumber water, if it's got lemon or basil or something in it, but they're better not be actual cucumbers floating around in it. Wow, okay.

All right. You ever tried it with just a little pinch of sea salt? Yes, they're gross. You don't like it in this salad? I don't like cucumbers at all. That is remarkable. Unless, again, if they're pickled, I love them. You hate cucumbers and love pickles. You hate cucumbers and love pickles.

I love cucumbers and hate pickles. We are yin and yang if we're nothing chuk. Well, maybe that's why we work. So the bread and butter, the bread and butter is the white vinegar, salt, white sugar, I think more white sugar than the dill. And then you've got some celery seeds, some tumeric, some garlic, some onion, and some red chili flakes.

Yeah, there's loads of sugar in bread and butter because the two flavor profiles are sweet and tangy. It's a strange combination, but if you're in the mood for it, a good bread and butter pickle is pretty good. And apparently the tradition of ruining your sandwich platter or even worse, if they wrap up a pickle and a sandwich wrapper to go like beside the sandwich.

Unforgivable. I don't know what you're talking about. You know, if you like just like I know what you're saying, I don't understand how it's unforgivable. It makes no sense because pickles are so great. That started in New York delis, specifically Jewish delis, Jewish immigrants started in New York Dellies, specifically Jewish Dellies, Jewish immigrants started in the 1930s offering dill pickles as a palate cleanser because that acid helps contrast with that, you know, maybe that fatty meat sandwich you're eating and it's got a nice little crunch

to it. I do like a crunch, but that's why I love cucumbers. They crunch. I didn't think pickles, I thought they were less crunchy because they're soaked in garbage. No, that's the wrong kind. So if you have non-crunchy pickles and you're buying them off the shelf, they were baked or they were cooked essentially boiled in a water bath. That doesn't actually boil, but it kills off any beneficial bacteria that might have been in it because it kills it with temperature and it also makes the pickles themselves flimsy. If you have lacto, fermented salt-briam pickles, there's your crunchy pickle. And those can be done with little enough salt that

you get what's called a half-sour and it tastes much more like a cucumber than a normal pickle does. So I think you should try a half sour dill pickle. You know what, I'm gonna try one because do those have vinegar at all? No, they're salt-briing as far as I know. All right, maybe I should try that because the vinegar, you know, on record is the vinegar is part of the problem.

I don't like a lot of like white vinegars. Yeah. And like apple cider vinegar is pretty rough. I do like balsamic venegres and things like that. It's very specific. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty. You're very complex. And I'm picky.

You're very complex. Is that it? I don't know, it's it. I just want to get, get real at the end. Is that how we're going to end the episode? Yeah, Chuck is needy and picky. All right, well, and short stuff is out. Stuff you should know is a production of I Heart Radio.

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