Why I'm Here

Where are you from? is always the first question I get asked after a few minutes of conversation up here in the big city. After 5 years of living in New York my Southern accent is still there, but sadly not as strong as it was. The next question I get is "Why did you move here?" and I always answer (with a slight twang) FOR THE PICKLES!!



Within 48 hours of unloading a rental car full of suitcases packed with what I THOUGHT were warm winter clothes, I hit the streets of New York City on a cold December day and headed straight for Guss' Pickles. Guss' Pickles is one of the last of the pickle vendors on the Lower East Side, an area that had once been the heart of a bustling pickle empire and is now the site of the Annual NYC International Pickle Day Festival held every September.

When you talk about pickles in this town, you're usually talking Kosher. Kosher pickles are fermented in water, salt and garlic, and sometimes a few spices. In the South (and other places) pickles are most commonly fermented in vinegar so the only kosher pickles I ever came across before moving north were in the refrigerated section at Kroger-jars of Claussen brand pickles-and we called them "deli pickles"...they were "exotic" pickles and reserved for fancier occasions... like Super Bowl Sunday or Xmas.

Kosher pickles are what most people in New York think of when you say "pickles" and Guss' is the place most New Yorkers know as "that pickle place". It's stood the test of time and is sacred ground for someone like me. You can walk right up and peek down into barrel after barrel of half sours, full sours, hot cherry peppers (my favorite), olives, stuffed olives, pickled garlic and spicy gherkins (my other favorite). You can buy by the pint, quart or gallon or just get 2 pickles for a dollar and the person working will usually let you sample anything you want. And even if you've never been there, if you've eaten in a New York deli, chances are that plate of pickles on your table is from Guss'. I KNOW...they just bring you a whole plate of pickles!! I love it here!



New York has a special relationship with the pickle. Just the fact that Guss' exists is proof enough for me but our pickle devotion supports other pickle places scattered around Manhattan like The Pickle Guys, Just Pickles and Pickles & Olives and once a year we set aside a day just for pickles and our love for them... and now we have a whole generation of new pickle makers broadening New York's (and beyond's) definition of pickles and lifting the lowly pickle out of the bottom of the barrel and into the specialty shops, like Ricks Picks, Wheelhouse Pickles and of course, my love, McClure's Pickles...and that's why, after 5 years, I'm STILL here...

The pickle empire is gaining new strength...