I love pickles so much that I need someone to stop me once I start eating them. Pickles are generally eaten as a side dish in Turkish culture. Among several dishes that can pair with pickles, there is a special one that you can’t think of separately. It is a kind of dried bean stew called kuru fasulye in Turkish. However, I don’t need any main dish to eat these, aren’t they great snacks too? Pickles are so appetizing that they make you eat more just after one bite. The only problem might be the endless need of water afterwards.
There is a small pickle shop in the city center and it sells the best pickles I’ve ever eaten. You can find pickles of any fruit or vegetable you can think of here. It is a heavenly place that you can’t just pass by, you are absolutely pulled inside by the pickles you see in its window. I love such small but successful shops! You feel that tempting scent of pickles just as you step into the shop and the door is like opening to a world of pickles.
My favorites are little pickled cucumbers and jalapeno peppers. But I must admit pickled unripe melon and carrots are as tasty. And I was so surprised when I saw pickled apples here. They pickle apples as they are, no slicing.
Another fruit that amazed me was pickled plum, which is not common here.
I buy a big bag of a mixture of our favorite pickles (cucumber, jalapeno, beet, cabbage, garlic and carrot- oh, I guess these might change as I want to eat them all) every time I go there.
How about drinking pickles juice pickle brine? Another thing I can no way refuse in that shop is a cup of pickle brine. I order a cup when I’m waiting for the vendor preparing my package. He asks if I would like it hot or not, and I say “Absolutely hot!”. I admire that hot and sour flavors together. He fills a plastic cup with hot pickle brine and puts a few cucumbers, carrots and chopped cabbage into it. You know what? My mouth waters even when I’m telling these here.
Do you have such pickle shops selling pickle brine in your place too? If not, you must absolutely come taste it here! Addictive!
37 Comments on "My Love of Pickles"
I like pickles but I would have never thought to drink the juice warm. Sounds… uhh, interesting! We dont have any pickle shops but we have an olive shop. All kinds of olives and maybe a few pickles. I live near the olive capital of the world. At least, that’s what they say.
Megan, we drink it cold. And I love it even on cold days. I love shopping at olive shops too! I always find olives in olive oil so tempting!
I am so intrigued by the pickled apples! I think I might try to make some this fall. Halifax doesn’t have a pickle shop which is probably a good thing because there is no way I could pull my daughter away.
Oh, I’m planning to try to pickle apples some time. I think they will be great if apples are sour. Your daughter could come here and we go to this pickle shop together. I’m sure the vendor will welcome us -two pickle lovers- very gratefully.
Can’t say I’m aware of any stand alone pickle shops in my city. I’m sure I”d love this place. The best pickles I’ve ever made were a hot rosemary carrot pickle and a dilled garlic green bean pickle. Yum. I must get back into canning again.
Wow! Your pickles sound great! Never had hot rosemary carrot pickle. Love to try it. I must ask it to the shop owner here.
so lovely! I love pickles!
We don’t have pickle shops like that here…I wish we did though! I love pickles and the sound of all those pickled fruits and veggies is definitely making me craving them! I really love the idea of pickled apples…sounds delicious!
Faith, I’m sure you would try all of these goodies just like me if you were here.
This is a good reminder and a great post. I really missed the variety of the pickles we used to taste when we were living in Istanbul ! !
Isn’t it great that we can buy pickles whenever we want from shops here? Even we can drink brine!
I love pickles too!
all these pickles look colourful and fabulous
Guess you can pickle anything! Even apples!
no we don’t have a place like that… I wish!
The pickle shop sounds fantastic! I would have such a field day there!
I must admit my husband has difficulty pulling me out from this shop:)
My mother loves pickles too. She used to tell me that back when she was a child the grocer would sell big pickles out of a big, wooden barrel. She said she would save her allowance money and buy herself a pickle instead of ice cream or candy.
Some markets have such barrels full of pickles here too. As a child, I was lucky so lucky to have them at home thanks to mom. Your mom must come see this shop!
I love pickles too, I could eat them till my teeth go all numb and sensitive!
I do the same and then have some problems in my stomach. Someone must stop us!
What a lovely shop! and what a lovely post! I have this urge to heat up some pickling brine and get preserving! I have made pickled eggs before (nasty things!) and pickled lemons. Can’t wait to try the pickled apples – they look wonderful!
Never heard of pickled eggs before. Doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. But as a fan of lemon, I must try pickled lemons.
Love pickles over here – is that you in the photo?? So cute!
Yeah, that’s me digging into brine and pickled cucumbers:)
I love pickles too and would love a shop like this. My SIL is the only person I had ever met who drank pickle juice, though. I’ll have to send her this so she knows she’s not alone! ; )
No she’s not alone. Tell her Turkish people love pickle juice!
I love pickles and I’m so jealous of this pickle store! The pickled strawberries have really peaked my interest.
Oh! Those are not strawberries. They are red hot peppers. I should have written it, sorry.
I love pickles too! Especially savory, salty ones. (I’m not a fan of sweet ones, unless they have lots of chile pepper heat.) I wish we had stores like the one you featured. Maybe I should start one?
My wife’s best friend is “Turkish,” her father was from Turkey. She’s been trying to teach me a bit of the Turkish language, and I always ask about Turkish food. She doesn’t know any Turkish dishes, though! I’ll send her to your wonderful website…
The Chile Doctor
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shop dedicated to pickles, so interesting & I sure would love to try it & see it & even taste the pickle brine hot, sounds really interesting
I make tourshou from several vegetables in the summer when they’re ripe (or not ripe, as with green tomatoes). The pickle juice used for canning there is much different than what’s used here in the U.S. It’s much more flavorful (in my opinion). I love it too. Of course, I love anything vinegary. Thanks for this post!
I grew my own kirby’s this past summer and made everything from dills to bread and butter pickles! Great blog~
i love pickles!
In Lebanon too we have a tradition with pickles, long slender cucumbers, turnips. eggplants, but no apples. Probably most of it passed on to us from the Ottomans!
Love the shop, could go there and buy quite a few jars!!!
I love pickles too and have never seen a pickle shop, I must check that out. I had an incredible chicken that was brined in pickle juice and then fried. I’m thinking that is what I need to have with a side of pickles.
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