AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Here's a question. Do you want a pickle with that? Apparently, America does. Pickle-flavored products are everywhere - potato chips, nuts, hard seltzer, beef jerky, jelly beans. (Laughter) I definitely can't go there. And online, you'll find recipes for pickle pizza, popsicles, margaritas. At WEEKEND EDITION, we felt this called for some serious research, so we've reached out to an in-house expert.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Hey, Ayesha. This is Stephen Fowler. I am one of NPR's political reporters on the Washington desk covering the 2024 campaign. That's my bread and butter, if you will. But today, we're going to talk about pickles.
RASCOE: What qualifies you as our pickle guide?
FOWLER: I mean, I've always been a pickle guy. I think it goes back to maybe a friend's birthday party in elementary school when there was a bag of Lay's dill pickle chips that I had for the first time, became hooked. Also, you know, there's a lot of fried everything here in the South. So fried pickles are a good appetizer. And, you know, it's just kind of refreshing. It's technically a vegetable, and it's got a lot of flavor.
RASCOE: I should say, I do not like pickles at all. (Laughter) Like, when they offer them on burgers, I say, take them off. When they offer them on the side of a sandwich, I'm like, please do not put any pickles anywhere near it. I don't want no pickles. But we've asked you to bring us a little selection of pickle products. What do you have for us?
FOWLER: Well, I have some dill-pickled-flavored falafel bites.
(SOUNDBITE OF CRUNCHING)
FOWLER: Very crunchy.
RASCOE: Oh, my goodness.
FOWLER: I have a Pickle Pups from Trader Joe's. It's like a corn dog with some dill pickle seasoning.
RASCOE: Oh, my goodness.
(SOUNDBITE OF CRUNCHING)
FOWLER: I've got the good old-fashioned dill pickle chips, Lay's chips...
(SOUNDBITE OF CRUNCHING)
FOWLER: ...With a nice pickley (ph) crunch. And actually, how I got tapped for this is one of the WEEKEND EDITION producers saw a tweet of mine about dill-pickle-flavored beer. It is a very, very refreshing sour beer...
RASCOE: Oh, my gosh.
FOWLER: ...That has the electrolytes for the pickle, so it kind of doesn't even really feel like you're drinking. Cheers.
RASCOE: Oh, my goodness. OK, so for the pickle hesitant, which I obviously am, what's a good gateway product?
FOWLER: I think you should try the potato chips, Ayesha. The chips are salty. There's not that much flavor on them.
RASCOE: OK, so I've opened the bag. I pulled out the chip. Let me see how this is going to taste.
(SOUNDBITE OF CRUNCHING)
RASCOE: (Laughter) So it's not that bad with the first, like, taste of it. It tastes a little like a salty chip, but there is an under taste of pickle (laughter).
FOWLER: A little bit of je ne sais quoi...
RASCOE: Yeah.
FOWLER: ...Of the gherkin variety, you know, the pickley flavor.
RASCOE: Is there anywhere you draw the line? Like, I'm not going to eat pickle-flavored this?
FOWLER: Oh, absolutely. In doing research for this, my editor pointed out there is pickle-flavor cotton candy. Absolutely not - that is a dill breaker, so to speak...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
FOWLER: ...Because sweetness and the pickles don't go hand in hand. One thing that I would encourage for people in the right situation and of the right age is a pickleback shot, which is a shot of pickle juice followed by a shot of whiskey. And it's a good addition to campaign trail reporting from time to time, given the chaos of the world.
RASCOE: Oh, my goodness. Well, I would need the - a lot of whiskey to wipe out the memory of that pickle juice.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: Like, I'd need a lot of it. That's Stephen Fowler, NPR political reporter and pickle expert. Thank you so much, Stephen.
FOWLER: Any time. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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