Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Gorgeous Pickel

For all pickle aficionados, apparently the combination of sour pickles and sweet Kool-Aid is surprisingly delectable. Popular in Mississippi, Kool-Aid drenched pickles are a popular treat coined Koolickles. Sound unappetizing? Don't knock it 'til you try it. The New York Times reports, "[Koolickles] have an arresting color that combines green and garnet, and a bracing sour-sweet taste that they owe to a long marinade in cherry or tropical fruit or strawberry Kool-Aid."

Not willing to drive over to Mississippi for a 50-cent pickle, I decided to try my hand at making Koolickles at home. Almost every recipe that I found called for "red" Kool-Aid; not being sure which flavor "red" represents, I went for a combination of cherry and tropical punch.

If curiosity gets the better of you and you'd like to make your own Koolickles, the process is really simple. Honestly, the hardest part is making room in the refrigerator for the pickle jar! 


Koolickles

Ingredients:
1 gallon jar dill pickles
1 lb granulated sugar
2 pkgs unsweetened Kool-Aid 

Place a colander over a large bowl and drain all of the pickle brine. Do not discard the brine. 

Mix the sugar and Kool-Aid into the reserved brine and stir well until completely dissolved. 

Slice the pickles in half lengthwise. 


Return the pickle halves to the original jar. Add the Kool-Aid/brine mixture to cover the pickles; you WILL have leftover brine. Resist the urge to drink it.

Seal the jar and place the pickles in the refrigerator for one week. The pickles will absorb the Kool-Aid brine and take on their new color and flavor. Don't be alarmed if the pickles shrink slightly -this is completely normal.

After one week, the koolickles should be ready. Enjoy!
 



8 comments:

  1. Looks really nasty - I'll stick to pickled beetroot.

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  2. That sounds gross, but considering the amount of KoolAide I have that i'll never use, I may end up trying it.

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  3. holy feces, KOOLAID PICKLES!? wow....i'm scared, but sort of intrigued.

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  4. Didn't know about that combination

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