Strange But Good: 9 Ways to Eat Pickles

A pickle every day, in every way.

Some might argue that there's a time and a place for a pickle—specifically on or next to a sandwich, in the summer, or maybe, if one's feeling daring, wrapped in waxed paper and chomped into directly from the barrel. But for every person who believes that pickles are best restricted to condiment status, there is a pickle fiend passionately campaigning for pickles and their brine to be eaten often and everywhere. We asked pickle-loving Hotliners for their ideas—here's how they do it.

1. Drink the brine straight. Follow with some water or, if it's happy hour, mix it with a shot of bourbon for a pickleback. MTMitchell's husband swears that gargling with brine helps a sore throat.
2. Use it to make zingy Bloody Marys and martinis.
3. Make tiny pickle sandwiches with potato chips.
4. Chop them up into a big pickle salad. Try it with a variety of pickled vegetables, or stick to cukes.
5. Pair them with peanut butter. Really. Layer pickle slices on a peanut butter sandwich or, as Garlic Fiend suggested, mix the juice with peanut butter and spread it on apple slices. Go all the way with a pickle round on top.
6. Marinate chicken in leftover pickle brine.
7. Or freeze the brine into pickle pops like our editor Amanda.
8. Use pickles and their brine in salad dressing. Not just for green salads. Add the chopped pickles and/or brine to egg salads, potato salads, and deviled eggs.
9. Reuse leftover brine to make more pickles when all is said and done. Pickle everything, from blueberries to lettuce.

Photo by James Ransom

What is your favorite way to eat pickles and their brine? Share your ideas in the comments.