Why Do Pickles Have Food Coloring?
Cucumbers are already green.
As I walk down the aisles of my local grocery store (which I rarely do anymore), it’s a modern miracle to see how many choices we have.
All of the colorful packages and fancy labels, aisle after aisle after aisle…
Heart Healthy!
Gluten Free!
Low Carb!
No Add Sugars!
Certified Organic!
Food producers and marketing companies put so much energy into getting you to look at their product on the shelf, among a sea of options, hoping that you will choose theirs over the others.
In order to make money, they will do just about anything to get you to buy.
Sometimes, the appearance of the food on the shelf is more important than the food inside of the package.
(Have you taken a good look at a frozen dinner lately?)
👉 eww 👈
But this fancy packaging is not limited to food in boxes. All kinds of foods are prepared to appeal to your eyeballs first.
Including pickles. 🥒
Of all of the foods on the grocery store shelves, you would think that pickles are safe. They are already green - a fermented, yellowish, pickle-green - and don’t need to be modified.
Take a look the next time you are at the store. It’s ridiculous. Nearly every mass-produced brand in every flavor on the shelf has some form of coloring additive.
Typically, they use Yellow #5 (Tartrazine).
Here is a scary read about how Tartrazine could be making your kids sick.
Would you be able to grow Tartrazine in your backyard?
Nope.
(My spell-checker doesn’t even know what it is).
Yellow #5 is Goo.
Some “organic” brands use Turmeric, Annato, or Beta-Carotene to make their pickles look more appealing. These three additives are considered “natural” and don’t necessarily qualify as Goo …but you still can’t grow them in your backyard, so I’m on the fence, here. But, let’s get back to pickles…
I love pickles. ♥️
I have been eating pickles since I was a little kid and my parents would get me a giant pickle from the downtown deli when they were running errands. In those days (the good ol’ days), a good fresh pickle was the size of your head (exaggeration), made a nice crunch sound when you bit into it, and had just the right juicy combination of salt, vinegar, dill, garlic, and whatever other yummy goodness makes a pickle a pickle.
I can almost taste that memory.
Next time you are shopping for pickles, read the label. If you can find a brand that doesn’t have food coloring, share what you found for others to enjoy!
My friend in middle school loved to eat pickles sold at the snack cart. As a follower I’d also buy it too, despite making me feel nauseous and slight tummy ache. It came from a jar that came from the conventional grocery market and I still remember the yellow tinge from the jar. I would ALWAYS feel bad after eating it. There is no doubt in my mind it had yellow #5. Yet when I recently tried housemade pickles with goo-free ingredients it was not nausea-inducing experience! The details (ingredients) matter!