1. The word 'pickle' is a concatenation of 'pick' to select purposely, and 'pickle' a preserved vegetable and literally means; to select purposely a preserved vegetable.
2. Pickles were invented in cave-man times as a way of preserving miniature vegetables to be used as Christmas tree decorations.
3. Pickles can be made from gherkins, small cucumbers, or onions.
4. Or cauliflower.
5. Cauliflower is traditionally pickled in dog-poo-yellow mustard and referred to as Piccalilli, as it leaves a horrible metallic aftertaste that is said to resemble the effect of licking a well-used handrail on the stairs down to Piccadilly Circus tube station.
6. Pickles generally come in jars containing 10 or more pickles
7. Large jars of pickles can contain 15 or more!
8. Pickles is also the name of the dog that found the World Cup when it was stolen.
9. Eric Pickles is a sour-faced politician who looks like he has eaten too many pickles.
10. The best pickles in the world come from Poland because the groundwater is acidic, so pickles come ready-pickled!
Piccalilli was a purposely selected variety of vegetables first pickled by a cave-woman called lilli. This was before the alphabet had been invented much further than the letter "p" and certainly not as far as "y". In fact, in a fascinating coincidence, the earliest known use of the letter "y" in literature is from Chaucer's Piers Plowman; when our hero is heard to exclaim; "Thes jaundyced pickle upon my cheese luncheon doth dance like napalm upon my tongue!", followed by "what the heck is this lettuce doing on my plate?"
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