Generations of Americans knew where to find pickles: sprinkled on top of their hot dogs, hidden inside hamburger buns and tucked next to deli sandwiches in wet wax paper.
Now, people seeking that distinctive briny tang can sip from a pickle lager at a barbeque, douse plain chicken and rice with dill pickle seasoning before a beach day and snack on pickle-flavored potato chips by the pool. Brands even sell pickle juice on its own, pickle-free, for use in salty, zingy cocktails or refreshing probiotic supplements.
What was once a “boring sidekick“ is “now the main character,” said Andrea Hernandez, a food trend forecaster and the author of the Snaxshot newsletter. Thanks to a “pickle renaissance” in the past decade, pickle has become to summer what pumpkin spice is to fall: the all-American flavor that stands in for the season, a genuinely tasty fusion of herbs and spices that show up in unexpected places, whether it’s a salty-sour pickle ice pop or a sweet holiday pie–flavored can of Spam.
Whether there is actually pickle or pumpkin in pickle- or pumpkin spice-flavored products doesn’t usually matter to the people who eat them. What registers is the mood — breezy or cozy, to conjure the season.
