A Walk-through Pickle Times
What Is Tangy, Crunchy and Oh So Spicy? Pickles of course! Let me take you to A Walk-through Pickle Times. Pickles are one of life’s most tantalizing foods; tangy, crunchy and of course really spicy. History’s legendary Queen Cleopatra to some extent attributed her beauty to a diet high in pickles.
Pickles have been around a lot longer for nearly 5,000 years; humans have been preserving and pickling since then. The etymology of the word “pickle” is a derivative of the Dutch pekel or northern German pókel. It means “salt” or “brine,” two chief components in the pickling process. The Hindi word “achar” comes from the Persian word “achar”. It means powdered or salted meat, pickles or fruits preserved in salt, vinegar, honey or syrup.
Taking a peek down the centuries, let us walk through the annals of the history of Pickles.
Circa 2030BCE
In India, pickles went beyond just preservation in brine. Ibn Battuta the legendary Moroccan traveller and writer chronicled the reign of Muhammad Bin Tughlak. He stated that there was mango and ginger pickle served with every meal. These heirlooms and the ancient recipes need to be passed on to the new generations.
Pickling Traditions
Like me, most of my generation reminisced about those delightful summer vacations when every household in the community was sniffing around for the aroma of homemade pickles. Making those mouthwatering, pickles for the entire family was an annual ritual. After sunning it, we opened the jar with a feeling of pride. Even when I recall my mom’s pickles, I can actually smell the aroma. Pickle-making is not an easy art. Not everyone can make tasty pickles. Just like plant lovers are born with a green thumb, pickle makers have magic in their hands. Reprimands awaited anyone touching the jar. Becoming the sous chef for my mom, I learned to cook under her tutelage. But sadly, I never made a pickle that lasted. But I crave the gobi achar she made every winter season.
Assortment of Pickles in India
We Punjabis eat achar with parathas, while south Indians, mix the pachadi, Uppinikayi, Urukai and Uppilitttuthu with rice. Central India has its own variations, Lonache in Marathi and Athanum in Gujarati. Serving pickles is a traditional custom with every meal, at home or at a festive occasion.
My grandmother would hide the jars and lock the cupboard. She would serve it with immense pride and love, as she knew it was delectable. My mom mastered the art under her tutelage and the tradition continued. Whenever we were travelling or going away to study, the jar of pickle was a reminder of home.
It is unbelievable but the origin of pickles in India dates back to 2030 BCE. Isn’t A Walk-through Pickle Times, interesting?
Gen Z in India
The pandemic was a game-changer in eating habits. When there was no means of getting fresh vegetables, pickles became popular. New cuisines are the trend along with fusion foods, but again Gen Z enjoys experimenting with new cuisines, but they seek traditional foods like pickles as it is comfort food. They may not have the time to pickle but consume it off the shelf.
A Walk-through Pickle Times- Internationally
Circa c. 2400 B.C.
Pickling; is one of the oldest methods of food preservation, conserving foods in vinegar or brine. Although the exact backgrounds are mysterious, archaeologists consider ancient Mesopotamians pickled food as far back as 2400 B.C. More than a few centuries later, cucumbers native to Indian soil, were being preserved in the Tigris Valley.
Circa c. 50 B.C.
When Queen Cleopatra of Egypt credited the pickles in her diet to her health and legendary beauty, her lover Julius Caesar and other Roman emperors believed pickles would make their troops strong and put them on a diet of pickles.
Circa A.D. 900
Around A.D. 900, Dill, which is one of the important herbs used in pickling cucumbers and other vegetables, it arrived in Western Europe from its native Sumatra. Though ancient Greeks and Romans used it comprehensively centuries before.
Circa 1492
On his legendary expedition to the New World, Christopher Columbus apparently rationed pickles to his sailors, going to such lengths that cucumbers grown in Haiti led to replenishing the rest of the trip. This was because during the Age of Exploration, when scurvy struck sailors on transoceanic, a horrible but common disease caused by the deficiency of Vitamin C. And that’s not all: Known as the “Pickle-Dealer,” Vespucci, worked as a ship’s chandler in Seville, Spain. He was a supplier of preserved meats and vegetables to ships and we know Vespucci aided in stocking Columbus’ ships on his later, less rewarding across the Atlantic.
Circa 1650’s
By 1659, cucumbers were being grown by Dutch farmers in New York. Merchants bought the cucumbers, pickled them to give them a longer shelf life and sold them out of barrels on the street. This was the beginning of what would become the world’s largest pickle industry. Later hordes of immigrants to New York in the late 19th and early 20th century which included great numbers of Eastern European Jews, launched kosher dill pickles in America; this made the city one centre of the pickle world.
A Walk-through Pickle Times
Circa 1809
Napoleon Bonaparte dangled a bait of 12000 francs to the person who could come up with the best way to pickle and preserve food for his troops. In 1809, Nicolas Appert, a French chef and confectioner, won the fat purse with a key understanding; if he filled food in a bottle and extracted all the air from it, before sealing it, he could boil the bottle and preserve its filling. Appert could pickle not only vegetables and fruits but jellies, syrups, soups and dairy products, using glass jars sealed with cork and wax,
Circa 1858
Early in the 1850s, the Scottish chemist James Young invented paraffin wax. This was a better seal for the jars used to preserve food. Lo-and-behold, in 1858, John Mason of Philadelphia patented the first Mason jar, crafted from a heavyweight glass that could endure high temperatures during the canning procedure. The ending of Mason’s patent was in 1879, which led to manufacturers of almost identical jars carrying on using the Mason name.
Circa 1893
At the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, with some tempting marketing abilities, “Pickle King” H.J. Heinz sent out a few local boys to lure fair-goers with a free gift if they stopped at Heinz’s out-of-the-way booth and tasted his products. By the closing time, Heinz had introduced one of the most popular marketing gambits in U.S. history by giving out around 1 million pickle pins or gifts. H. J. Heinz Company, Inc. repeated the same pickle pin promotion at the World’s Fairs of 1896, 1898 and 1939. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette states that Heinz’s dark-green pickle pins continue in manufacture even in the 21st century, linked by spin-offs like the ketchup pin and the golden pickle pin.
Circa 1940s
The U.S. government restricted pickles, and 40 per cent of the nation’s production of pickles was sent to the armed forces during World War II. The trade organization of Pickle Packers International, founded in 1893, launched International Pickle Week in 1948.
Circa 2000
Players from the Philadelphia Eagles notably credited their endurance to drinking pickle juice after beating the Dallas Cowboys 41-14 on a really hot day when temperatures reached 109˚. A study at Brigham Young University backed up this claim that drinking pickle juice relieved a cramp 45 per cent faster than drinking no fluids and 37 per cent faster than water.
We were eating pickles in BC and we are consuming them even now and I hope they will be there in the future. For this we should preserve the secret recipes passed on down the ages.
I believe that ‘’It’s the small trivial things in life that make a human happy, like opening a pickle jar.”
Do share your favourite pickles and their memories.
Check out these pickle Recipes
This post was created for the Blogaberry Creative (Monthly) Challenge.
This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Dr. Preeti Chauhan.
Oh My God there is so much to just Pickles. Impressed with the history, significance and the spread and width of it. Great informative blog
Very informative blog and lot of research done. Did not know there was so much history to pickles!
What an interesting post Harjeet… loved to read the history… like you opened a jar and the stories just poured out… amazing formation. And my mouth is watering jlt🤤… hahaha…
The pickles from my place are quite different from the rest of India. They are hotter as we use the red hot ‘dalle’ chillies but less salty n less sour.. so I have the regular pickles only with parathas cuz it doesn’t suit my pallete otherwise.
Intresting post on pickle. Got to know history of pickle. Your hardwork hatss off.
Lonanche we have special place for lonche in our heart. We do eat on a daily basis as a little bit with our meal.
I do know the pickles have a long history but this detailed information is definitely commendable. You have done a great research on pickles for sure. I love pickles especially the sweet n spicy ones.
What a delightful read about pickles! I have never researched them, but I love the vinegar ones from Japan. And I like to make simple, fast consumable ones at home. But Cleopatra crediting this to her beauty and the sailors having them during their travels, that’s some pickle trail over the centuries.
That was some mouth watering history of pickles. I am not really found of all kinds but my personal favorite is sweet lemon pickle, the goan balchao and mix veg pickles. My mouth is actually watering with reading your post. hahaha
Wow Harjeet ji , your post is making me crave pickles right now! Tangy, crunchy, and spicy – the perfect trio. Who knew pickles had such a fascinating history? Whenever I visit India, my mom and mom in law pack home made pickles for me. I just lovely parathas and dal chawal with pickle. Thanks for this pickle time travel!
No memory. I love fish, squid and prawn pickles best.
Pickle too have a history, this is something new for me and I never imagined that there can be something like this. The people that time were so much scientific in their daily lifestyle and that what I understood about the way the pickle preserving history progressed. I am a true lover of Pickle and my mom is an excellent pickle maker and I honestly only love her homemade pickles. I can make a few but they are not at par with mom. My favorite varieties of pickle are khatta mitha am ka achar, berry achar imli ka achar to name a few from my mom’s kitty. But indeed this post gave me some insihtful information about Pickle. Thank you mam for this post
A great post about pickles. Any one from our part of the world will attest to the fact that with simple pickle one can consume several chapatis and piranhas. Who cares for a sabzi, when you are served pickles.
The history of pickle making was such an interesting read! For me a good robust paratha in winters with a side of pickle and glass of Chhaachh is mandatory , so it is with dal chawal and curd in summers. Pickles are always in season , always loved:)
Oh my 😍 what a delightful journey of one of my favorite side-dishes 😋
Thanks for sharing this trivia. My favorite is methyu athanu (Gujarati) which is the mango pickle. My favorite memory of it helping my maternal grandmother prepare it during the summer holidays
I haven’t came to that point where I begin to like/love pickles yet. I’m saying this because there’s a lot of food that I’ve come to love now that I’m older. Growing up, I don’t remember my parents or people around me having pickles. Well, except of some occassional sweet pickle relish added to one of our dishes. Aside from that, no pickles. It’s great how you shared everything about it though. Totally appreciate that!
Oh my God! Never knew there was so much to know about pickles. I am not a ‘pickle’ person surprisingly. But the information you’ve given is so interesting. Am so enlightened to know that pickle has so much history attached to it.
Wow, very informative post on pickles. I loved to eat pickles but did not know such a brief history about pickles. Thanks for such a detailed and insightful post. I loved reading it.
This is very informative. I learned a lot of new things today. Your post reminded me of the good old days. My husband was the pickle maker of the house. I used to have a window sill full of pickle jars.
The blend of history, personal memories, and cultural connections with pickles is both fascinating and heartwarming. The anecdotes from different eras make the humble pickle a true hero, and your concluding note about the joy of opening a pickle jar resonates deeply.
A side of pickle can transform any dining experience to another level of bliss! It is also a great way to have your fav vegetables or meat throughout the year by preserving it Who knew there was so much more to the humble pickle! What an illustrious journey!!
A fantastic and well-researched article. pickles are dishes that use preservation techniques. oiling, addition of vinegar and salting. our ancestors were the first food experts. For me, mango pickle is my favourite. Mom’s recipe is simple, and tasty.
Some foods are universal. Enjoyed reading about the history of pickling. Very informative. Papa was the certified pickle maker in our family. He had a compilation of recipes he experimented with.
It was fascinating to read about the history of pickles. In India, pickles have always been a part of cuisine and culture. What is fascinating is the wide range of pickles that are made in different parts of the country.
Wow! What an amazing and tantalizing post. Who would have thought that pickles have such a rich and interesting history too? This is making my mouth water, and I feel like eating some achaar now!
What a fab post, Harjeet! I love pickles but my love for picles especially mango pickles have gone a notch up after moving to Bangalore. We get pickles from farmers’ market and they are out of this world. But my fondest memories are from my childhood when we used to live in a big joint family and my taiji used to make dry mango pickles, the taste I still remember and haven’t found in any other pickles.
Thanks harjeet for sharing umpteen information about pickles. I’m a fan of pickles and always a fan of avakayi that we make each summer.this brought back memories
Pickles are a legendary and thanks for bringing in such an amazing history of pickles. Achaar is always my saviour when I don’t find anything interesting to eat. A simple dal and rice with achaar is heaven for me:)
First of all I am so happy to see you back in action. I was missing your posts. I have never read about the history of pickles. This is such an interesting information
I love pickles! Whether it’s traditional aam ka achar ya lahsun ka, or the Western pickled jalapenos in my sandwich, I love them! My husband teases me that achar ko sabji banake nahi khate!
Indeed, there’s something special about the small, seemingly trivial pleasures like opening a pickle jar that connect us to our past and bring joy to our present. Thank you for this delightful walk-through pickle times!
What a cool way to write about a subject – by encapsulating its entire history!