Love all pickles. Really come to realize that a good burger just needs mayo/cheese/pickle and you're done.

Pickled everything else, hell yeah. My wife makes great spicey pickled carrots/radishes/etc for tacos.

Love them. Most varieties, most items. Pickled okra? olives? asparagus? All great. The onion and carrot and cucumber pickle in a banh mi? outstanding. All of it is great unless the brine is trash.

I have a huge soft spot for Achaar as I've been eating it for almost my whole life. I prefer the pickled mango over lime. Even better is the mango thokku which is ground up a bit more so you don't have to navigate mango pits. Amazing on toast. My family makes it at home and that is beyond great. They even make an achaar gosh, which is beef in the pickle spice. It's very different from american/euro pickles, as the spices and powdered vegetables and fruits and oils are supposed to be consumed as a whole.

Priya brand is the store-bought one I like best:

kerble wrote: They even make an achaar gosh, which is beef in the pickle spice.

Love this dish, especially w/mutton or lamb in place of beef. The incredibly sour taste and acid of the pickle cuts right thru the richness from the fat, and then you've got the earthiness and heat of the spices. Fuck, yes. Pair that w/some riesling or chenin blanc, and life is pretty good.

Pickles in nearly any form is tops. My grandma was a master at making them--still never had pickles as good as hers. Recipe died with her.

Only thing I could never really hang with was pickled watermelon, but other than that, fuck yeah, hit me. Was at Katz's deli recently and that little side of pickles they have there was superb.

Big, big fan.

kerble wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2026 11:11 amI have a huge soft spot for Achaar as I've been eating it for almost my whole life. I prefer the pickled mango over lime. Even better is the mango thokku which is ground up a bit more so you don't have to navigate mango pits.

I got something from the local Indian market that was called pickled mango, and it was like chutney made from diesel fuel and battery acid, with huge sharp spikes of chopped mango pit hidden inside. It's the most hostile, not-for-human-consumption food product I've ever met. So you're saying there's a version with smaller shards of inedible pit? Sounds lovely

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2026 11:44 am

kerble wrote: They even make an achaar gosh, which is beef in the pickle spice.

Love this dish, especially w/mutton or lamb in place of beef. The incredibly sour taste and acid of the pickle cuts right thru the richness from the fat, and then you've got the earthiness and heat of the spices. Fuck, yes. Pair that w/some riesling or chenin blanc, and life is pretty good.

oh man. It's so good.

ChudFusk wrote:

kerble wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2026 11:11 amI have a huge soft spot for Achaar as I've been eating it for almost my whole life. I prefer the pickled mango over lime. Even better is the mango thokku which is ground up a bit more so you don't have to navigate mango pits.

I got something from the local Indian market that was called pickled mango, and it was like chutney made from diesel fuel and battery acid, with huge sharp spikes of chopped mango pit hidden inside. It's the most hostile, not-for-human-consumption food product I've ever met. So you're saying there's a version with smaller shards of inedible pit? Sounds lovely

haha. It's definitely an acquired taste, but often it helps having a very small amount, and adding it a little at a time. You do have to kinda set it on the side, and scoop the achaar out of the pit shards. It's kind of like bones in stew? The pits add to the flavor. I will literally eat it plain, tho. I think my wife likes it more than I do. And the thokku, which is the ground kind, doesn't have any pits in it to eat around, but the mango flesh is smashed more. The lime kind? I'll eat the rind, I don't even care!

Like them but do not like them on sandwiches. Not because it tastes bad but because it's the only thing I CAN taste when I bite into one. I'll pull them off and eat them separate.

Holy shit, the sound it makes when you bite it? OH MAN!

Really into the Mexican style "Chiles en vinagre". Not sure if this is indicative of a particular strain of Mexican cuisine, but it is fucking lovely with the carrots and cauliflower. I like it with more with the whole chili's, but something like this.

Perhaps not technically pickles, but now might be a good time to point out my fondness for Persian dried limes (politically timely!) and North African preserved lemons. So useful in the kitchen.

Acidity, baby. In food, in wine, in one's personality...