Being half Ukrainian, I have a deep and well-developed respect for dill pickles. In fact, I would say that I’m one of their biggest fans. But even my affection for dills has its limits and they have been tested twice in the last 24 months.
First came the Kool Aid dill. A Kool-Aid dill is what happens when you marinate a classic dill pickle in super strength strawberry Kool-Aid. You get a sticky, candy colored pickle that Mississippi kids (who comprise the fan base of this confection) call a Koolickle. I call it a sweet and sour abomination.
Koolickles are often made in a big jar and then sold by convenience store owners for $1 each. When I wrote about these pickle-flavoured confections in my Topline Trends newsletter the response was a universal yuck! Then, when I made a batch and featured them on Canada AM, the response was double yuck (I wish I could have taken a picture of Seamus’ face when he tried one on air!).
New this year is the commercial product called Pickle Sickles. Like a freezie, these snacks can be thawed and refrozen. Unlike a freezie or a Kool-Aid dill, they aren’t sweet but salty and sour. The press kit says Pickle Sickles are a healthy snack for kids and diabetics because they’re made from whole pickles, have no fat and only 1 g of sugar. I tried one as a professional duty. I have to say that even as a lover of pickles, dill pickle chips and even dill pickle juice (although only homemade dill pickle juice), these frozen snacks are nasty. They’re so salty that any nutritional advantage they have for not containing sugar is negated.
Trust me: when you want a cold, salty and sour snack: grab a fork and eat an actual pickle. You don’t need to try these new pickle creations.
