Manhattan Pickle Emporium Still Has Juice

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

From NPR News, it's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

And I'm Michele Norris.

We're going now to Manhattan's Lower East Side where it's common to encounter strong feelings, in this case, strong feelings about pickles.

Sarah Reynolds has this profile of one man in the pickle business.

SARAH REYNOLDS: Every Tuesday, a truck pulls up to Alan Kaufman's pickle emporium ? The Pickle Guys ? and drops off thousands of cucumbers. He pours about 2,000 of them into a barrel to start.

Mr. ALAN KAUFMAN (Owner, The Pickle Guys): We got our last box going in now.

(Soundbite of pickle pouring)

REYNOLDS: Tuesday is pickling day.

Kaufman opened his shop in 2000 in a neighborhood fondly known as the Old Pickle District. He learned to pickle with some of the old-timers before opening his own place.

Mr. KAUFMAN: This is salt brine. The amount of time that they sit in the barrels will determine what kind of pickles they're going to be.

REYNOLDS: According to the New York Food Museum, pickling was a booming business in the early 1900s.

(Soundbite of pickle shop)

Mr. KAUFMAN: What's up? What can I get for you?

REYNOLDS: For decades, there were about 200 pickle shops in the area. Today, there are very few.

(Soundbite of pickle shop)

Mr. KAUFMAN: Hot and sour or hot half sour?

Unidentified Man #1: Hot and sour.

Mr. KAUFMAN: Pickles are very important to some people. Some people get very irate if the pickle's not just perfect. Well, they're either too sour or not sour enough. I want them straight. I don't want them crooked. People are very fussy when it comes to their pickles.

REYNOLDS: Kaufman is a jolly 50 years old with a neatly trimmed beard and a shirt with a talking pickle that says: Smells great, tastes better. His shop is filled with neat rows of dark red, open barrels all full of pickles.

Mr. KAUFMAN: Okay, we sell sour pickles, three-quarter sour pickles, half sour pickles, new pickles, hot sour pickles, hot half sour pickles and horseradish pickles. And that's just the pickles we sell.

REYNOLDS: Pickling is a delicate matter. Customers and picklers alike have their tendencies, and they're stubborn about them. Nancy Ralph, director of the New York Food Museum, also sees the pickler in the pickle.

Ms. NANCY RALPH (Director, New York Food Museum): It's an improvisational art. So, people experiment with different flavors and come up with their favorite flavors that sort of matches their own taste or the market they're trying to reach.

(Soundbite of pickle store)

Mr. KAUFMAN: Hot sour, hot half sour, horseradish.

Ms. RALPH: And as a consequence, it takes on sort of the personality of the owner, so people create a product that tastes like who they are.

Mr. KAUFMAN: Well, you like hot stuff, these are hot.

REYNOLDS: Alan Kaufman has rules, but they're simple. Don't put your hands in the barrels, he'll get the pickles for you with a big silver bowl.

Unidentified Man #2: I love it. Give me one more.

REYNOLDS: No napkins ? use your sleeves. You get a pickle to eat while you wait, and you'll like it.

People seem to find the rules entertaining and come back for more. Len Zerling(ph) comes in to buy pickles for his mother. He loves the smell of the place.

Mr. LEN ZERLING: Sweet, sour, brine, salt. What good is a steak or a hot dog without pickles? Everybody has their own taste. I like half sours. My mother loves sours.

REYNOLDS: Kaufman hands him a pickle.

(Soundbite of crunch)

Mr. ZERLING: Want a bite?

REYNOLDS: Kaufman says that a good sandwich is only a good sandwich without a really great pickle, and he knows he's right.

For NPR News, I'm Sarah Reynolds in New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.