>On the very day of Pickle Freak’s 4 year anniversary, I chose to celebrate at work by sharing, and when it come to pickle stuff y’all know that is a weak point for me. A couple of weeks earlier, the president of Van Holten’s Pickles did something totally awesome. He sent me an entire container of their Big Papa Dill Pickle Lip Balm. It’s something I hate to be without-it rescues me every time I need a pickle but can’t have one (which is pretty frequent ya know). I LOVE this stuff. So anyway, I decided to celebrate my anniversary and share with the people in my office. The reaction to the lip balm offer was either very high or very low, but I try not judge. I loved the ones who eagerly grabbed for a tube and secretly thanked those who didn’t (more for me!), but I honestly think that my willingness to share that day resulted in some very good give and ye shall receive type karma. While sitting at my desk, a tall guy with friendly face walked up and he looked a little familiar. My brain is always trying to place any person that is approaching but then I noticed he was carrying a quart of pickles. OH YEAH, I remember you!
Meet Juba Kali. Juba is a native of New Orleans and walked into my work place to check it out a few months ago and it just so happened that while he was there, someone was like “hey, weren’t you on The Food Network Star”? and then he was all like, “yeah, that was me” and then we started talking about food and blogging and food blogging. So how WEIRD is it that he remembered that I blogged about pickles AND that he brought me a jar on the 4 year anniversary of Pickle Freak!? I believe in small miracles and this certainly felt like one. A really, really delicious one. Juba explained to me that he’d always had an interest in pickling and had been making a few jars and selling them at local farmers markets so he thought he’d bring me a jar. THANK YOU JUBA. The pickled green beans are delicious-I say ARE instead of WERE because by another small miracle there are still a few left in the jar!
You can see in the picture all the ingredients listed or in the jar itself, but Juba hinted there was a “secret” ingredient and challenged me to identify it. So far my best guess is MAGIC? Seriously y’all, we need to do whatever it takes to keep this local food star pickling!
