One sour world: What our planet pickles

You know the biology teacher that keeps jars of various animal fetuses in formaldehyde that are just disgusting in his classroom? Well, I had an English teacher like that. Not – well I mean she looked nothing like a formaldehyde-preserved fetus. She was just this British woman teaching at an all-girls Catholic school in California who had this large jar of pickled eggs sitting on her desk. They fascinated me. All I could think every time I looked at that jar was, “she wasn’t kidding when she said the British were ‘a gross eating nation.’”

Now I shouldn’t point a finger at the British, since we all eat gross things. My great-grandmother in Mexico used to make this revolting dish that consisted I think of coagulated blood, spices and who knows what else. My cousin told me the dish contained pieces of pig lung as well, but then again, he also told me that when cows farted, milk came out of their noses. My point, and I really should get back to it, is that I found those eggs revoltingly fascinating. They looked remarkably unappetizing, and I would have been hard-pressed to choose between them and my great-grandmum’s blood-and-stuff dish.

Most of the other pickled dishes in this article look tasty enough – except for the pickled herring. And I say this in all deference and respect to my Scandinavian in-laws. In my defense, my husband is from inland in the southern part of Norway, and they don’t really eat pickled herring there.

You know what we eat pickled in Mexico? Carrots and jalapeño chiles (peppers). You can get them canned in the “ethnic food” section of any California grocery store. I’ve never seen anyone, in California or in Mexico, eat anything but the canned-in-the-factory variety. I’m curious; do people in other countries tend to do their own pickling at home? The glass jars in the photo make it seem that way.

“In America, anything that is pickled besides a cucumber tends to turn the stomach.”

Dude, you should have had lunch at my grandma’s sometime. It was all about the sectioned platters with the pickled onions, pickled beets, and an assortment of sweet, garlicky, dill, etc. pickles. I still love me some pickled beets.

Yum, picked anything is usually awesome.

My English grandmother used to dish up picked white onions with every lunch. Tasty, tasty stuff. Also, very fun for children to peel and eat layer by layer. We never quite made it to pickled eggs though…

Don’t forget the umiboshi! Pickled Japanese plums, so tangy!

Yay for kimchi! The description – fermented, pickled cabbage – sounds foul, but it’s actually really tasty. I was craving it when I was in the UK last summer.

Pickled radishes are also common here – you get a box of them free with EVERY kind of fast food. Chicken stew? Throw in some pickled radishes. Pizza? Pickled radishes. Fried chicken? Pickled radishes. Not one non-Korean I’ve met likes them – bleargh!

What about two UK staples? Pickled onions (I have a jar in my Korean fridge right now, mmm!) and pickled eggs? Pickled onions and a big wedge of edam cheese….drool!

You should head on over to the South East of the united states to any sketchy looking gas station in the middle of no where and you are sure to find ether a jar of pickled eggs or a jar of pickled pigs feet… but to be honest I don’t know any one who buys them…