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In 2,030 B.C., cucumbers native to
India were brought to the Tigris Valley. There, they were first
preserved and eaten as pickles.
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Cucumbers are mentioned at least twice
in the Bible (Numbers 11:5 and Isaiah 1:8) and history records their
usage over 3,000 years ago in Western Asia, ancient Egypt and
Greece.
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Aristotle praised the
healing effects of cured cucumbers.
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Cleopatra attributed a portion of her
beauty to pickles -- though we're not sure which portion.
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Pliny's writings mention spiced and
preserved cucumbers; in other words, pickles.
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The Roman Emperor Tiberius consumed
pickles on a daily basis.
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Julius Caesar thought pickles had an
invigorating effect, so, naturally, he shared them with his legions.
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The enjoyment of pickles spread far
and wide through Europe. In the thirteenth century, pickles were
served as a main dish at the famous Feast of King John.
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Cucumbers were brought to the New
World by Christopher Columbus, who is known to have grown them on the
island of Haiti.
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In the sixteenth century, Dutch fine
food fanciers cultivated pickles as one of their prized delicacies.
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Cartier found cucumbers growing in
Canada in 1535, and they were known to the colonists of Virginia as
early as 1609.
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Queen Elizabeth liked pickles. And
Napoleon valued pickles as a health asset for his armies.
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Samuel Pepy's diary mentions a glass
of Girkins as something to be highly appreciated.
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In 1659, Dutch farmers in New York
grew cucumbers in what is now Brooklyn. These cukes were sold to
dealers who cured them in barrels and sold them from market stalls
on Washington, Canal and Fulton Streets. As it turns out, these
pickle purveyors started the nation's commercial pickle industry.
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A fondness for pickles has always been
a national characteristic of the American people. It's a good thing,
since our country's namesake, Amerigo Vespucci, was actually a
pickle peddler in Seville, Spain. He supplied ships with pickled
vegetables to prevent sailors from getting scurvy on long voyages.
While Columbus is credited with discovering America, Vespucci was
apparently a better PR man. We're named for him. We became the
United States of America -- instead of the United States of Vespucci.
And that's probably a good thing, too.
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George Washington was a pickle
enthusiast. So were John Adams and Dolly Madison.
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Pickles inspired Thomas Jefferson to
write the following:
"On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than
a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling
depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally's
cellar."
We're still trying to track down Aunt Sally's recipe.
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In colonial America, the pickle patch
was an important adjunct to good living. Pickles were highly
regarded by all of America's pioneering generations because, under
frontier conditions, pickles were the only zesty, juicy, green,
succulent food available for many months of the year.
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In colonial times, and, much later, on
farms and in villages, homemakers expected to "put down"
some pickles in stone crocks, and to "put up" some pickles
and pickle relishes in glass jars.
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In 1820, Frenchman Nicholas Appert was
the first person to commercially pack pickles in jars.
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1926, however, stands as perhaps the
most momentous date in pickle history. You see, in that year, the
Mt. Olive Pickle Company was founded.
