I am a pickle lover. Dill, sweet and most other kinds, I enjoy pickles. Recently, I read the following “pickle” article and really enjoyed it.

What would a Cuban sandwich be without pickles pressed alongside the smoky pork and melty Swiss? Ditto the piquant pickle marrying spiced meat and garlic sauce in a shawarma. Or the one-two punch of neon green relish and a dill spear on a classic Chicago dog. But these briny delights aren’t just the sandwich’s loyal companion its ubiquitous sidekick on a plate as garnish. Pickles can hold their own, all on their own, with a crisp acidity and a satisfying snap that makes for a bite like no other.

Kosher dills are king in the United States, far surpassing gerkins and bread & butter chips in popularity. Eastern European Jewish immigrants cemented that status in New York status in the late 1800s, when traditional kosher recipes called for fresh cucumbers piled in large wooden barrels with dill, garlic, spices, kosher salt, and water.

Those barrels, by the way, aren’t the best boating vessels, despite the handful of historical daredevils who successfully went over Niagara Falls in one. The first the take the plunge was a school teacher named Annie Edson Taylor who was strapped for cash and seeking fame. Her 1901 stunt didn’t earn her the fortune she had hoped for, but it certainly made for a memorable birthday – her 63rd, no less!

After swimming in those barrels in their brine bath, former cucumbers emerge as bumpy bright green “half sours,” also known as new pickles. With longer fermentation come the “full sours.”

As pickle pushcarts popped up along the Lower East Side of Manhattan, so did delis like the legendary Katz’s, selling pickles straight out of the barrel and paired up with mile-high pastrami on rye. Today the famed eatery’s house-brined pickles are available by the quart via mail order.

Despite all their bright potential, pickles can leave a sour taste: In fact, Spoon University, an online food publication produced by college students, named pickles one of the ten most polarizing foods of all time, alongside licorice and cilantro.

Still, those who relish (forgive us) pickles are super smitten with them – Americans partake in nine pounds of pickles per person per year. (Try saying that five times fast!) The love affair has