50 free Pickle trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free pickle trivia questions with answers. This pickle trivia quiz brines the whole subject: how pickling works and why the pH matters, the ancient Mesopotamians who pickled cucumbers from India, what makes a dill 'kosher', the difference between a half-sour and a full-sour, why gherkin is a Dutch word and why cornichons taste of tarragon. It also covers the world's other great pickles, kimchi, sauerkraut, umeboshi, piccalilli, achar and pickled herring, and the American pickle culture of Vlasic, Mount Olive's New Year pickle drop, bread-and-butter pickles, fried pickles from Arkansas, Kool-Aid pickles, the Christmas pickle, Pickle Rick and the NFL's Pickle Juice Game. Easy questions suit family and food quizzes; the harder ones on origins and dates will test fermentation fans. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is a pickled cucumber called in Britain, Ireland, Australia and South Africa?
Gherkin
The word comes from early modern Dutch gurken or augurken, meaning small pickled cucumber.
Q 02One hypothesis holds that cucumbers were first pickled around 2030 BC in the valley of which river?
The Tigris
The cucumbers themselves came from India; another story credits workers on the Great Wall of China.
Q 03Which Egyptian queen credited the pickles in her diet with her health and legendary beauty?
Cleopatra
Ancient writers were already noting pickles' nutritional benefits thousands of years ago.
Q 04A 'kosher' dill gets its name from what?
The garlicky style of Jewish New York makers
It is not necessarily kosher under dietary law; dill pickles have been served in New York since at least 1899.
Q 05In New York deli terminology, what is a 'half-sour'?
One given a shorter stay in the brine
It stays crisp and bright green, while a full-sour has fermented all the way.
Q 06Pickling solutions typically have a pH of what or lower?
4.6
Acidity and salt stop enzymes and microbes; natural fermentation by lactic acid bacteria supplies the acid.
Q 07The word 'pickle' derives from a Middle Dutch or Low German word, pekel, meaning what?
Brine
In Middle English pikel first meant a spicy sauce served with meat or fish.
Q 08Which type of microbe produces the acidity in naturally fermented pickles?
Lactic acid bacteria
Vinegar is not needed in a true brine-fermented pickle.
Q 09Cornichons are small French pickles flavoured with vinegar and which herb?
Tarragon
They are made from gherkins, cucumbers of 3 to 13 cm with bumpy skin.
Q 10Fanning's bread-and-butter variety, trademarked in 1923, is named after what?
Farmers bartering them for staples
Omar and Cora Fanning trademarked the name in 1923 after trading surplus small cucumbers with their grocer.
Q 11'Koolickles', dill pickles soaked in Kool-Aid, are a treat for children in which region?
The Southern United States
Fruit punch and cherry are the favourite flavours, and the flesh turns pink.
Q 12Fried dill pickles were popularised in 1963 by Bernell 'Fatman' Austin at a drive-in in which state?
Arkansas
His secret recipe is used once a year at Picklefest in Atkins; his dipping sauce was ketchup, since ranch did not exist yet.
Q 13Which pickle brand, introduced in 1942, was founded by a Croat immigrant in Detroit?
Vlasic
Franjo Vlašić arrived in 1912 and started with a small creamery; the first pickle plant was in Imlay City, Michigan. Conagra bought the brand in 2018.
Q 21Umeboshi, the salty pickled 'plums' of Japan, are actually more closely related to which fruit?
Apricot
Samurai ate them against battle fatigue; one on white rice makes a 'Hinomaru' bento resembling the flag.
Q 22Piccalilli, the yellow British mustard pickle, was adapted from which country's pickles?
India
Hannah Glasse's 1758 recipe called it 'Paco-Lilla, or India Pickle'.
Q 23Rollmops are pickled fillets of which fish, rolled around a pickled cucumber or onion?
Herring
Pickled herring is eaten at midnight on New Year's Eve in Poland, Germany and parts of Scandinavia for luck.
Q 14Which North Carolina firm lowers a glowing 3-foot pickle down a flagpole every New Year's Eve?
Mount Olive
That is midnight Greenwich Mean Time; the firm sells more than 230 million jars a year.
Q 15According to Christmas pickle tradition, what happens to the first person to find the pickle ornament?
An extra present or a lucky year
Americans believe it is a German custom, but 91% of Germans polled had never heard of it.
Q 16Which Michigan town billed itself the Christmas pickle capital and held a pickle parade from 1992 to 2005?
Berrien Springs
The tradition may date to the 1890s, when Woolworths began importing German glass ornaments.
Q 17Which Korean pickled side dish is stored for winter in earthenware onggi jars buried in the ground?
Kimchi
Both Koreas have had kimchi-related traditions inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list, and a low-calorie 'space kimchi' flew with astronaut Yi So-yeon in 2008.
Q 18Which explorer took sauerkraut on his Pacific voyages to prevent scurvy?
James Cook
Despite its German name, sauerkraut did not originate in Germany.
Q 19'Pickle Rick', the episode that won Rick and Morty its first Emmy, aired in which year?
2017
Written by Jessica Gao, it took the 2018 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.
Q 20In the NFL's 2000 'Pickle Juice Game', the Eagles beat which team 41-14 in 109 °F heat?
Dallas Cowboys
Athletes drink it to prevent cramps; BYU players downed two and a half gallons in a comeback that same year.
Q 24Which Pennsylvania Dutch invention turns pickled eggs pink?
Adding beets
Pickled eggs are a fixture of British pubs and chip shops and keep for three to four months.
Q 25Japanese tsukemono are often pickled in a bed of what?
Rice bran
They are served with rice, with drinks, and as a course of the tea ceremony's kaiseki meal.
Q 26Georg Rumphius suggested the South Asian word 'achar' derived from an Arawakan word for what?
Chili pepper
Achar is now a globally sold product but remains a marker of South Asian cultural identity.
Q 27Giardiniera, the pickled vegetable relish, comes from which country's cuisine?
Italy
In the US the spicy version is called 'hot mix' and goes on everything from bratwurst to tuna salad.
Q 28Roughly what percentage of a cucumber is water?
95%
Cucumbers were domesticated in India at least 3,000 years ago and were eaten year-round by the emperor Tiberius.
Q 29The Spanish brought cucumbers to the Americas in which year of the Columbian exchange?
1494
Charlemagne had them grown for him in the Middle Ages.
Q 30Which soaking treatment, using a calcium compound rather than salt brine, makes some pickles crisper?
Pickling lime
The calcium firms the texture; it is rinsed off before the pickles are finished.