Read more about the Spreewald, Germany region at Spreewald.de

Some 60 miles south of Berlin, Germany the river Spree splits into 300 little creeks and canals, forming the Spreewald forest, an area of deep black fertile soil. Iron-rich river water and excellent weather provide for quality vegetable crops.

The Slavic tribe of the Sorbs settled here in the 6th century. In 1679 Dutch immigrants introduced the gherkin. With the river Spree running through the city of Berlin, a big market was in easy reach. The gherkins were preserved either as sour or as unfermented pickles.

To this day, Berliners won't eat anything but Spreewald pickles!

What is an express pickle?

Express pickles are the fastest pickles you can prepare. They are ready to eat the ext day. Express pickles are not conserved in any way. You have to keep them refrigerated. They will not last any longer than other fresh vegetables.

Express or mustard pickles are prepared from fully-grown, yellow cucumbers. You may ask: Will those not be mushy? You know you want to use small, green cucumbers for crunchy pickles.

With express pickles, the kick is in the mustard in combination with the ripe fully flavored cucumber. That is why they are also called mustard pickles. Express or mustard pickles are not crunchy but quite spicy and make an excellent addition to any salad platter. In their native country of Germany, you will often find a mustard pickle spiked to a piece of barbecued meat. (I have to stop writing at this point, my teeth are dripping...)

What is an unfermented pickle?

Most pickles anywhere are prepared through a fermentation process where bacteria extract the sugar from the gherkin and produce acid, thus preserving the pickle.

Unfermented pickles are preserved by high temperatures when they are shortly boiled in salt water and vinegar. Commercially produced unfermented pickles are often not boiled, but undergo a pasteurization process.

Because the preservation of the pickle does not depend on the amout of acid, unfermented pickles are not as sour as fermented pickles.

You can visually tell unfermented from fermented pickles by the brine. Fermented pickles swim in a milky looking brine, while the brine of unfermented pickles is as clear as water.

What is a sour pickle?

Sour pickles are fermanted cucumbers. Living bacteria cultures inside the cucumber extract the sugar and produce acid. The cucumber thus becomes sour and durable without refrigeration.

In 1991 the siblings Karin Seidel and Konrad Linkenheil purchased a pickle processing plant that used to be run by the East German communist government. They started a new Spreewaldhof company and ran it from €3.58M to €69M in just 12 years!

You can buy Spreewaldhof pickles here.