My Monday Pickle Adventure

So apparently I need to know how to make homemade pickles....  

Why you ask? Well, it all started yesterday afternoon when my husband decided he wanted to grill burgers for dinner (grass-fed bison burgers) and he needed me to go to the store and get gluten-free hamburger buns and PICKLES! He loves pickles by the way - and I never buy enough of them.

Since yesterday was Memorial Day I wasn't sure if all the grocery stores were going to be open so I decided to drive to the closest one to my house in search of pickles. It was open and I find the pickle aisle and there was another woman there also looking for pickles but all there was on the shelf was pickle relish. That just wouldn't do. I had specific instructions on this grocery run. So the employee at the store came over because he could tell I was searching for something. Nope no pickles. They can't get them from the warehouse! All out! So I put back everything I had in my cart because it wasn't really what I wanted and decided to go to the next store.

I thought I'd go to the organic section and find my bread and pickles. I found some bread, vegan sprouted lentil bread :) not a bun but oh well. I found mustard, ketchup, capers, but no pickles. I looked in every aisle and there were none. So I decided to look in the regular condiment aisle to just see what I could find.

Lots of options right?

Actually there were none. Every single one of the jars had Yellow dye No. 1 and/or other chemicals including Calcium Chloride. This is typically found in rock salt - like for the roads.

So no matter how much my husband wanted pickles I just couldn't do that to him. Specifically not to his gut. But it all ended well, luckily I had already started making a cucumber radish salad at home with super thin slices from my mandolin and I dressed it with a fresh lemon vinaigrette and shallots and fresh dill. Even better than a pickle, and in the meantime I am going to just make my own. I found this super super easy recipe from The Kitchn and I'm making pickles as you read this!

These are labeled ingredients and they are all over way too much of our food. I would recommend looking at your jars and packages and make sure you know what's in and on the jar! If this is labeled and we are buying it - it's harder to imagine the things that aren't labeled and the ways that food has been manipulated genetically and otherwise.

What can you do about this?

Stop buying pickles and anything else that has chemicals and what I call non-food foods. And if you have a question about anything you find, just post a comment or question below or tweet me @Jodibullock and I'll respond to help you out!