Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City
When I started my official pickle search over 5 years ago now (!), I knew I would have to expand my search and include pickles made in factories that I could not visit.
In the past. I always enjoyed going to the place where the food was made, but there are just not as many pickle businesses open to the public as there used to be.
And to be honest, with pickles, it was very difficult to determine just how many pickle makers were operating in the city out of some random warehouse in Brooklyn or the Bronx.
Well, I found another one, which is super exciting.
I visited a local kosher grocery store to pick up some ingredients for a new episode of Around the World in One Kitchen and I stumbled upon a jar that was smart with their branding. Williamsburg might truly be the center of the modern pickle world in New York.
If you’re not familiar with the Brooklyn neighborhood, one side of the highway houses a large Hasidic Jewish community who covet kosher pickles and on the other side of the neighborhood are the hipsters who will pickle just about anything.
So this jar could have belonged to either group, but of course, these come from the original New York picklers. I can’t find much information about Williamsburg Pickles online (there is not even an address on the packaging), but I did enjoy their super crunchy spears.
They are bright green and remind me of the ones I yearn to pair with a fatty sandwich at a kosher deli. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this company supplied many of the local delis with their pickles.
My only gripe here is with the name. These are called Half Sour Pickles, but in reality they tasted much too clean, salty, and fresh for a half sour pickle. There really wasn’t much sourness at all, but instead bright clean salty crunches. I would have called these “New Pickles” since I imagine they had not been fermented as long as something I would call “Half Sour.”
But aside from the misnomer, I really enjoyed these and in many ways, I consider this flavor and texture to be classic New York. No matter which side of the highway you live on.
Does Williamsburg Pickles make the best pickles in NY? I really should try the other varieties before fully grading them but based on these New Pickle style (misnamed as Half Sours), I really like them so they get an 8 out of 10, but would get higher if they fit into the proper category.
| WILLIAMSBURG PICKLES |
| Williamsburg, Brooklyn |
