The Texas Treat With a Juicy Tale

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Taste Test: Pickled Popsicles

The "Pickle Sickle"-- a popsicle made out of frozen pickle juice-- is being marketed to children, so who better to test it out than a bunch of kids?

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They tried cherry and lemon-lime at the rink but haven't yet put them on the market. "The kids loved the salty, vinegary cherry concoction," Howard says, but he prefers jalapeño.

As he started to promote Pickle Sickles nationally, Howard got out of the roller rink business. "I just didn't have time to do both anymore," he says. Before buying the rink, Howard was a plumber. "I'm still trying to find my niche," he says.

If purchased through the Internet (a box of 16 is $17.95 at http://www.picklesickle.com), the two-ounce packets come unfrozen and are shelf stable for six months. You just put them in the freezer. Howard says some people drink the unfrozen juice out of the package.

There's a good possibility Pickle Sickles will be on ice cream trucks from New England to New Jersey this summer, Howard says. Outside of Texas, that is the area where Pickle Sickles have become most popular. Go figure.

Besides on the Internet, Pickle Sickles sell through booster clubs, at H-E-B (Here Everything's Better) markets throughout Texas and in some schools. Yes, schools: six in Texas and one in Oklahoma.

In January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the sale of Pickle Sickles in schools. Because, wouldn't you know it, Pickle Sickles are a health food. The frozen pickle pops, advertised as "a healthy alternative to sugary frozen pops," are fat-free and contain less than one gram of sugar. A Pickle Sickle has only three calories. The pickle pop promoters tout other health benefits. They quote an Arizona State University study showing that vinegar, such as that used in pickling, combats insulin spikes after a high-carb meal -- useful information for diabetics. They also claim that pickling spices fight bacteria.

Carol Johnston, chairwoman of the department of nutrition at Arizona State University and author of the study, has never eaten a Pickle Sickle. But researchers there have given them to study participants to test the insulin effect, and "it looks like it's working," she says. Although more data analysis is necessary, she says, frozen pickle juice may be a good way to get people to eat their vinegar.

Which brings us to the so-called pickle juice game. In 2000, the Philadelphia Eagles played the Dallas Cowboys in the season opener in Dallas. The temperature was well over 100 degrees. The Eagles, however, appeared surprisingly refreshed and whomped the Cowboys, 41-14.

Some credit for their victory was given to the pickle juice their trainer had them drink to stay hydrated and avoid cramps. Since then, pickle juice drinks have appeared on the market as sports aids. Proving that you can't fool a Texan twice, one juice is endorsed by Cowboys tight end Jason Witten.

As food, pickle juice is good in just about everything, Howard says. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's true that many Southern potato salad recipes call for it. My mother always saved the juice in the pickle jar and added cut-up carrots, celery sticks, cucumbers and other raw vegetables. After a couple of days of marinating they tasted pretty good.

I've heard that pickle juice makes a good marinade for meat, improves bottled barbecue sauce, is nice in gazpacho and spices up a bloody mary. I've also been told it's good for a hangover and for azalea bushes.

Howard recommends adding pickle juice to martinis, which makes sense, since a dirty martini calls for olive brine. Howard even cooks with pickle juice, making dishes such as his pickle pop lemon-dill chicken: chicken breast, a two-ounce unfrozen pickle pop (to deglaze the pan), fresh-squeezed lemon juice, fresh dill and butter. Capers are optional.

The briny nectar by itself, of course, is the purest expression of the form. But if it tastes exactly like a dill pickle, why go to the trouble of freezing pickle juice? "Because it's a heckuva lot more fun to do it our way," Howard says.

Bonny Wolf, host of NPR's "Kitchen Window" podcast and author of "Talking With My Mouth Full," can be reached at food@washpost.com.