There is a guy near here who sells hot dogs-Chicago style. He sells the Chicago-based “Old Vienna” brand. I recently had one-they are good, but not noticeably different from the local brands.
The thing I noticed-the relish is so green it almost fluoresces-it is a shade of neon green never seen in nature. Anybody know what kind of dye they use? Do Chicago people like the odd color?
I’ve never heard of “Old Vienna” brand, but Vienna brand is the (in)famous Chicago neon green relish. The coloring is FD&C Blue 1. I’m born and raised Chicago, and I personally think it looks stupid, but the hot dog places around me didn’t use the neon green stuff.
Good question. I would have assumed dye, good to see it confirmed. Or bad depending on your opinion of dyed foods.
It’s radioactive.
Kryptonite.
My grandmother made her own sweet pickles, and she used ordinary green food coloring from the supermarket. They always looked a bit unnatural, but they sure were good.
I’ve found that mixing any ordinary jarred sweet pickle relish with a few drops of McCormick green food coloring produces the exact same coloration as the Chicago-style relish.
Okay, so if it’s food coloring, who started this process? Who decided “What this hot dog needs is to look like it was touched by a monster from the old Scooby-Doo cartoons!”?
Here’s the story. It’s not definite, but it was apparently Fluky’s in Chicago (at least in relation to the Chicago-style hot dog) in the 70s that first added a bit of blue food coloring to produce the neon green color. But why? I assume to make it distinctive.
Perhaps inspired by Maraschino cherries.