Bubbies Pickles

Last night I went grocery shopping. It was late. It was so late that my regular stores, the stores where I usually shop, Trader Joe’s, Piazza’s (but not for frutas y verduras, usually), and Whole Foods were closed. I had to go to Safeway, which is the largest grocery store chain in California. If a product is made by Kraft, ConAgra, Nestle, or Unilever it is sold by Safeway. They tend to not carry products unless they are made by huge producers. It doesn’t make financial sense for them.

One of the things I bought last night was Claussen Dill Pickles, a Kraft Foods product. I bought two jars for less than I usually spend on one jar of of my usual brand of pickles. I was very excited. But not just by the price. Why? Because since the second Monday of Pascha I’ve been on a diet (I want to live to 50) and dill pickles are something I can eat as many of as I like.

When I got home I opened my jar of pickles, admired their color, took one out of the brine, tasted it and almost spat it out. It tasted sweet and chemically. I thought to myself, “What? Why would a pickle taste this way? All you put in dill pickles is water, salt, vinegar (sometimes), herbs, and spices.”

So I looked at the list of ingredients. But the first thing I noticed when I looked at the label is that each serving of theese pickles has five calories (that’s kcals for my british reader). That shocked me. A serving of pickles usually have less than 1 calorie each. What was going on here?

I continued to read: “ Fresh cucumbers, water, distilled vinegar, salt, contains less than 2 percent high fructose corn syrup, dried garlic, spices, calcium chloride, sodium benzoate, dried red peppers, natural flavors, polysorbate 80.”

Why is there corn syrup in pickles? Disgusting! This is a jar of kosher dills not sweet gerkins. And why the preservatives sodium benzoate and polysorbate 80? By definition, pickles are preserved. Once cucumbers are pickles and and put in a barrel or jar they last for years and years. This makes no sense to me.

Beginning with this post I am going to begin compile a list of good, pure, wholesome, good-tasting foods that are available to SF Bay area residents. The first item on that list is Bubbies Dill Pickles. (I've mentioned them on this blog before). They contain no corn syrup, no polys, no benzoates. They are good pickles that taste the way God intends pickles to taste. The list will be in the right margin of this blog.