I am a dill pickle aficionado. I confidently say this because well, I have eaten a LOT of pickles. If there was a pickle and popcorn diet I’m pretty sure that instead of my “fluffy self” I’d be a dead on double for Twiggy or Calista Flockhart only maybe not so cute. 😉 I’ve however been a little turned off lately when I’ve looked at the ingredients that pickle makers have been shoving into my jars of deliciousness. The number one problem I have is the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Which I can pretty assuredly say is liquid GMO. So fast forward today while I’m doing my shopping at Sprouts and I see they have a pickle section near the deli. There in the refrigerated section is a cloudy bottle of Bubbie’s Kosher Dill Pickles with a photo of a little Jewish grandma or Bubbie on it. I pick it up and guess what the ingredients are???
- Cucumbers
- Artesian Well Water
- Garlic
- Salt
- Dill
- Spices
What no HFCS? On closer inspection I read about the fact that it has lots of good probiotics and is gluten free. Fantastic. I take note that they also sell other products like sauerkraut, pickled green tomatoes, and horseradish. Fast forward to my getting them home and opening the jar to eating FOUR yes FOUR pickles in one day! But they are amazing. So amazing I had to tell everybody about them. Thus this post. They will be a staple item in our refrigerator for sure. I hope you enjoy them as much as me. 🙂
“Perfectly Perplexing Pickle Facts
Americans have been eating pickles ever since Christopher Columbus discovered the land. Since then, the pickled cucumber has become a favored snack, available in more than 36 varieties. Even teenagers and toddlers love them. In a recent study teens have identified pickles as one of their favorite vegetables. (Some call pickles a vegetable, but Supreme Court U.S.A. has ruled that they are a fruit of the vine.)
Pickle history dates back to 2030 B.C., when inhabitants of Northern India brought cucumber seeds to the Tigris Valley. Shortly thereafter, cucumber vines were growing all across Europe. People then learned to preserve the fruits of their labor by pickling them in a salty brine.
During the 17th century, the pickle came to the “New World.” By the 1820s, colonists had grown so fond of pickles that Nicholas Appert constructed the first pickle plant in America. In fact, America was named after a pickle peddler: Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was a ships chandler, outfitting vessels scheduled for long explorations with vitamin C-packed pickled vegetables (particularly cucumbers and cabbage) to prevent scurvy among crew members.
You can experience a piece of early American history each time you open a jar of Bubbies Pure Kosher Dills or Bubbies Bread and Butter Chips.
Consumption:
More than 67 percent of all households eat pickles.
American households purchase pickles every 53 days.
Americans consume more than nine pounds of pickles per person annually.
The Land:
Approximately 100,000 to 125,00 acres are devoted to growing pickling cucumbers in the U.S. They are grown in more than 30 states, with the biggest producers being in California, Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas.
Cucumbers are a cash crop at the grower level. Growing them requires no government subsidies.
Health:
Pickles are fat-free and low in calories.
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, believed pickles contributed to health and beauty.
Particulars:
Pickling is one of the oldest forms of food preservation, discovered at the dawn of civilization, thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia.
North Americans prefer pickles with warts while Europeans prefer them wartless.
Refrigerated versions account for about 20% of all pickle sales.
International Pickle Week is one of the country’s longest running food promotions. It has been observed for more than 50 years. IPW runs for ten days during the last two weeks in May.
The pickled vegetable industry has its own trade association: Pickle Packers International, Inc.
During WWII, the U.S. Government tagged 40% of all pickle production for the ration kits of the armed forces.
Good pickles have an audible crunch at ten paces. This is measured using an Audible Crunch Meter. Pickles that can only be heard at one pace are known as denture dills.
Ingredients
Cucumbers
Artesian Well Water
Garlic
Salt
Dill
Spices”
via Bubbies.
After writing this post some questions came up about whether or not Bubbies contains any probiotics so I began a little search and found this statement by Bubbies:
“Bubbies Bread & Butter Chips are vinegar brined and are a pasteurized food product, so there are no live cultures in that particular item. Our Pure Kosher Dills, Dill Relish, Pickled Green Tomatoes and Sauerkraut are all naturally fermented and cured in salt water brine using a lacto-fermentation process. These products contain live cultures and the enzymes that form from a natural fermentation.
The Pure Kosher Dills, Dill Relish and Pickled Green Tomatoes are 100% raw; the Sauerkraut in the jars has been flash heated but not pasteurized. This means that the Kraut is neither pasteurized nor raw. Bubbies Bread & Butter Chips are vinegar brined and pasteurized and are shelf stable.
We were forced to begin heating our jarred Sauerkraut to calm the cultures inside because they were causing the kraut to continue to ferment too much in turn causing a buildup of gas that then results in brine leaking all over our distributor’s and retailer’s equipment and shelving.
When we heat our jarred Sauerkraut, it is quickly raised to about 135-140 degrees and then sealed in the jars. The goal here is not to eliminate all the beneficial cultures, but rather to stifle them so they won’t cause the jars to leak. When our Bread and Butter Chips are pasteurized the pickle chips and brine are heated to a boil and then allowed to simmer, to 212 degrees. This process is designed at eliminating any potential cultures and is the style of preparation for that variety of pickle. While the heating we do for our Sauerkraut is only intended to calm the gas producing nature of the product with the specific goal in mind not to eliminate the beneficial cultures. We do not claim that this product is raw for these reasons, but it still does have live bacteria. From our testing, it is above 140 degrees that you really begin to eliminate the cultures present in our products on a massive scale.
It is important to note that our Sauerkraut is very crisp. It is crunchier and able to maintain its crunch for far longer than other brands. This is because there are still vegetable fibers left intact in the cabbage which are the complex carbohydrates that break down into the simpler food that the lacto bacillus cultures feed on during the fermentation process.
Hopefully this information will help in your continued enjoyment of our products and make it easier for you to remain a loyal customer.
Wishing you the very best in Food and Health!”
Are these heat treated in anyway such as the canning process or pasteurization? If they are they do not have the good probiotics any longer. That is why I make mine at home.
Deborah I’ve updated the post as to explain that yes in deed that according to Bubbies they in fact DO have good probiotics! 😀 I’d love to make my own. But I’d go through pickle withdrawal waiting 45 days for them to ferment. 😉
Does Bubbies use sea salt un their dill pickles?
I don’t believe so but I bet if you contacted them they may consider it! I’d like it if they used some Celtic Sea Salt! Then you’d get the extra minerals. By far though they are the best dill pickle out there.
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