Pickling and canning tends fall in the province of county fairs and old-world farms and rustic restaurants owned by sunny, gingham-wearing people who like to cool pies on windowsills.
But this is mostly Hollywood-type stuff, right? Home chefs engage in pickling in big cities, too, a plot point that has yet to be addressed in a major urban thriller. (Seriously, screenwriters of LA: You can change this up. You can.)
The Beverly Hills Farmers Market will turn this sour-pucker stereotype on its pickled end come Sunday, Aug. 4. It's joining with another 90210 stalwart -- Nate 'n Al, yep yep -- to host the first-ever PickleFest. Host it not in some distant countryside dell but in the heart of Beverly Hills itself.
PickleFest is a contest with a couple of different categories, but let's quickly alight upon the one that everyone will want to know: Best Dill Pickle in Beverly Hills. You've likely sat at Nate 'n Al and inhaled a plate of clove-y, dill-laden spears between the time that your server handed you your menus and returned to take your order.
Yes? This is true.
There's also a category called "I Can Pickle That!" It has a state-minded bent, too: Any fruit or vegetable grown in California may be pickled. We're hoping for some creative (and yet still delicious) entries.
There are rules to know about submissions, including number of jars and what-not, but we hope the picklers of the 90210 are at the ready. The prizes are solid: Top prize for the Best Dill Pickle is a $200 Nate 'n Al gift card.
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And since we mentioned pie earlier, we might has well give a shout-out to Piesta, the long-running pie contest that the Beverly Hills Farmers Market annually holds in June. Nope, we don't think pickles'll yet push pies out of the way, but we're charmed that two "country" foods get their day in the big-city sun 'round these parts.
Who says that the countryside gets all the tastiest, homiest stuff? We can wear our gingham and pickle things, too.
