In the spirit of Science Friday, here are some things you may or may not have known about pickles.
- Cucumber pickle factories commonly ferment cucumbers in large outdoor vats of salt brine. These vats usually have no cover, and are wide open to falling bird droppings, insects, and other airborne objects. However, according to Jim Cook, a food scientist with the Minnesota-based pickle manufacturer Gedney, tanks are left open for an important reason: The sun’s ultraviolet and infrared rays prevent yeast and mold growth on the brine surface—potentially a much more serious problem than bird droppings.
- Many people consider pickle brine a useful commodity. It’s been used as a soup stock, a hangover remedy, a drink, and - for many eastern European women - a cosmetic.
- Pickles played an important role in Colombus’s discovery of America in 1492. Around the time of Colombus, many transoceanic voyages were thwarted because crews suffered from scurvy, a disease caused by lack of vitamin C. Colombus’s ship stocker, a man named Amerigo Vespucci (who was a pickle merchant turned explorer), stored ample quantities of vitamin C-rich pickles on the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria, helping to prevent scurvy outbreaks on the historic voyage across the Atlantic.
