There's nothing intolerable about pickled vegetables. I eat them all the time
Properly picked, as in preserved and can be stored ambient for extended periods, or "pickled" as sold in a supermarket where the small print says "keep refrigerated after opening"?
I have been told there is a huge difference between the two.
Qualify it as three types.
There are the fermented pickles
There are the pickles that get mixed with prefermented preservative (usually vinegar/salt) and pressure-canned
And then there are the pickles that get flash cooked or not cooked, mixed with preservative, and refrigerated for a limited time
Traditional "properly picked" also had to ve consumed after being open or stored cold. Once you open it, backterias can get in and spread.
There is some difference in taste, due to modern additiomal conservants and minor changes in receipta, but not all that much.
That is why some salt-preserved foods are traditionally soaked before consumption: to remove the excess salt.
Also because salt itself was much more valuable back then you wouldn't have as much or even any salt in your fresh food so you use the "preserved in an intolerable amount of salt" food products with the unsalted food products to get a quite tolerable middle ground at consumption time. Mash potatoes and pickle bits mmm
> Mash potatoes and pickle bits mmm
And thus potatoes and sauerkraut was born.
While sauerkraut fermentation uses salt, the main technique preserving the cabbage is the fermentation and sauerkraut is thus not super salty (about 1% of the weight is salt)
Without the potatoes, they hadn't arrived from the Americas by this point.
Yes, but also my understanding is that the preservation technique of that name involves much more salt than modern palettes are willing to tolerate, and also salt itself was much more limited in supply.
Despite this, salt as a preservative was indeed critical to civilisation.
> fermenting
True, and also I want to say "blessed are the cheesemakers" etc. here. :)