Picklin Paul

Pepys in a pickle

"At home with the workmen all the afternoon, our house being in a most sad pickle."  Samuel Pepys, Wed 26th September 1660.

How inconvenient for Sam but it reminded me of what a great phrase 'in a pickle is'.  Apparently the expression 'in a pickle' refers to the unfortunate predicament of falling into the brine that was used in pickling rather than the pickle itself.  Pickle coming from the old Dutch word 'Pekel' meaning brine.

But did people really fall into barrels of pickle or is it just a worry? And has this fear of falling into food spawned other food related phrases - "in a jam" "in a stew" "in a soup"?

This girl needs help

This girl is truly terrified of pickles.  I think they could have used cheese and pickle sandwiches to help her confront her fear. 

Pickle Power

At the beginning of the 2000 NFL season, in what was reputed to be one of the hottest games in the sport's history, the Philadephia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys.  The connection with Pickles?  Apparently the Eagles coaching staff attributed the win to drinking pickle juice to combat the heat.

Stranger still someone has now launched a product called 'pickle juice sport'... and got someone from the Dallas Cowboys (the losing side in the now infamous 'Pickle juice game') to endorse it.

Fingers crossed

I entered my Piccalilli into the Great Taste awards today.  It's the 'definitive standard for speciality food and drink in the UK' so I'm slightly nervous about how well we'll do.

We had a blind tasting last year - but that was only against Sainsbury's woeful Piccalilli.  We've also had some great feedback from customers and tastings at the Lamb's Conduit Street festival.  It also went down well with Russell.  So I'm hopeful of a good result.

I don't know what I'll do if they don't like it.  Perhaps I'll form my own pickle awards.  I've also heard some bad news - Marc Kennard isn't going to be at the judging tomorrow so he can't influence the voting.

Results are out at the end of July.

Ploughman's

What could be finer in this sunny weather than sitting under a tree with a Ploughman's and a bottle of cider?

Crunch

One of the most appealling characteristics of a good pickle is the crunch.  A squishy, slushy pickle doesn't have the same appeal.  For proof try some Branston Pickle and compare it to the smooth version they produce.  Without crunch it lacks something. 

I don't know why crunchiness should be so enjoyable.  Is it to do with the sound, the sensation or the texture?  But crunchiness is part of the enjoyment of pork scratching, apples, radishes and pickle.