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According to research carried out by the BBC (British Board of Condiments), pickle is the most popular condiment among UK pensioners, with more than 48% enjoying it in a sandwich, with a salad or as a poultice at least once a week.
Pickle was invented by the twelfth Earl of Branston in 1758 and he named it in honour of his pet Jack Russell which sadly died after falling into the original malting vat.
Modern, commercially produced pickles are still largely based on the original recipe, but there are now more than 400 artisan alternatives, including Old Wold Mould Pickle, which comprises astragal briquettes, egg and dart flong and moulage quadroons in a bitter aloe seep, Whitehaven Anti-Vegan Pickle, made from veal shavings, tongue gobbets and liver mammock and Hatton Garden Gemstone Pickle, which complements the traditional ingredients such as onion and rutabaga with finely chopped peridot, girasol, jargoon and diced carats.
The 2018 UK Pickle of the Year was Turner’s Sickle Pickle, whose melange of grass, scythe rust and Warleggan scliff macerated in an earthy Trenwith skink was described by the judges as “a lavish sumptuosity of Cornish …” (See Words, Unnecessary)