Claussen minis are the only pickle I’ll eat. They’re the only ones that are crispy all the way through, and unlike cornichons they’re pickled in brine and not vinegar. Not to mention that once pickles outgrow the mini stage they start to get mushy in the middle.
Nowadays I get most of my grocs through Amazon Fresh. They’ve been out of stock since March 6. I managed to get to a supermarket, which was also out of them. Went back the next week, still no pickles, so i asked someone, who told me they hadn’t been able to get any for weeks. I continued to check Fresh every day, and suddenly today they had them in. I ordered 7 jars–partly to meet the minimum order for free delivery, but also of course hoarding against future droughts.
They just got here. All 7 jars are labeled mini, but there isn’t a mini pickle in a single jar. They’re on the small side for regular pickles, but they’re well past mini and into the mushy zone.
Was there some kind of pickling plant disaster, during which the pickles were left unharvested, and allowed to grow too big? Has there been a permanent redesignation of what “mini” means? And what am I going to do with 140 ounces of mushy teenaged pickles?
Am I the only one who is living through this apicklypse?
Very funny but oddly, Heinz Dill hamburger chips, the ones that actually have that nice sour dill taste- are also hard to find. I was getting the Kroger copy, but also hard to find, and a slightly different version that my wife found me is way too sweet.
Well, that would explain the lack of any jars of Nalley Elites on my grocer’s shelves. Fortunately, I have a jar in reserve so perhaps I’ll weather the storm.
When I saw “Claussen minis” I thought of Fhloston Paradise. (I had no idea it was a brand/style of pickles–I’m a Mt. Olive kosher dill guy myself.) I know someone who has been complaining for months about the shortage of non-kosher pickles.
Yes, something sucks in pickledom here, too. By far the best sliced pickles for use in sandwiches and, most importantly, in Wolfpup’s Famous Burgers, are Strub’s sliced garlic pickles. They have not been seen for some time, not even during my last forage at a gourmet food store, but I haven’t given up yet. Meanwhile I’ve had to substitute inferior sliced garlic pickles. Fortunately Strub’s Full Sour garlic & dill whole pickles are still available, so if the apicklypse continues I see manual pickle-slicing in my future.
I get mine at the dollar store. (don’t judge! I live alone, a little jar lasts me 2 months). No dill pickles, just sweet. There are chips, don’t know if they’re dill or bread and butter. I may bite the bullet and buy an expensive jar of Farmers Garden Vlasic pickles at a grocery… I like the kind from Poland with garlic cloves and a branch of dill in the jar, none of this ‘extracts’ stuff for me.
Yay!! I just scored two jars of Strub’s inimitable sliced sandwich pickles! And then I was at another store, and they had them now, too. The pickle shortage is over! (At least for me. Wolfpup’s Famous Burgers will be the same again, with no compromises on the pickle!)
I can’t speak for Claussen, but my father worked in the pickle industry; sometimes his company sourced cucumbers of the size of the two in the top of your picture from India. If that’s a common thing in the industry, that could explain the loss of your ‘real’ minis.
