Pickle Pops? No Joke! USDA-Approved for Back to School

Just when you think you've seen everything, someone decides to market pickle pops. Pickle pops? Pickle pops are frozen pops made from pickle juice. Pickle pops are not new; Pickle pops hit the markets in April 2007, but with their January 2008 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approval, this school year is the first in which pickle pops are offered to the back to school lunch menu market. Don't be surprised if pickle pops are on the menu when your child heads back to school next month.

Do you wonder if the CEO at Bob's Pickle Pops, the company that created this green confection, is a 9 year old boy? I did. But when I checked the website for the Texas company, I learned that pickle pops were the invention of a man named John Howard, owner of Outerskate roller skating rink and arcade in Seguin, Texas.

Howard had begun freezing pickle juice at the rink and selling out of it, so he investigated further and developed a market for his new pickle pop confection which he says uses 100% of the pickle.

Pickle pops have proven surprisingly popular with chemotherapy patients whose taste buds often reject sweet tastes during treatment. Less of a surprise, perhaps, pregnant women are said to be enamored of pickle pops.

Having gained USDA approval to market pickle pops in schools, Howard has conducted taste tests among school-aged children and begun a marketing campaign directed at schools. Pickle pops are not cheap, however, selling at $19.95 retail for a box of 20.

The drive to market ever new and different treats does not begin with pickle pops. Numerous other unusual confections, most of which your child likely won't encounter when going back to school, have emerged in the marketplace in recent years:

Lemon Cheesecake Flavored Nestle's KitKat candy bar (limited edition)

Upon hearing of lemon cheesecake KitKats, I investigated further and learned that these unusually flavored candy bars, marketed in Germany and Japan, are not alone. KitKat makes candy bars in curry, cumin and masala flavors.

Chocolate Water

Strathmore Mineral Water Co., Ltd. introduced chocolate water to encourage children to drink more water.

Odd Ice Cream

Ice cream makers have introduced so many specialty flavors that once unusual treats like rose petal, fennel, or clove are now relatively commonplace. Not quite so common? Bacon and egg ice cream offered by the Fat Duck in Berkshire, England.

The Japanese sell fish ice cream, octopus ice cream, ox tail ice cream, eel ice cream, cactus ice cream, raw horseflesh ice cream, charcoal ice cream, and fried eggplant ice cream among numerous other unusual flavors. Japan beat Romania to the punch in offering a Dracula ice cream flavored with garlic.

Udder Delights in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware believes it has developed a one of kind product with barbecue flavor ice cream. Shop owner Hearn frequently experiments with flavors; some of his more unusual ones besides barbecue include mushroom ice cream, stout beer ice cream, and cucumber onion ice cream.

Now who's calling pickle pops strange?

Sources: http://www.bobspicklepops.com/, Clupepper, Quita, How about a Pickle Pop?, http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/071608kvueDIW-cb.608e3d27.html, July 16, 2008; http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=5044&st=360; Tristern, Andy, Curry KitKat Anyone?, http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-9242221-details/Curry+KitKat+anyone/article.do; Harding, Deborah, Unusual Ice Cream Flavors, http://recipes.suite101.com/article.cfm/unusual_ice_cream_treats; 101 Frightening Ice Cream Flavors from Around the World, http://www.who-sucks.com/food/101-frightening-ice-cream-flavors-from-around-the-world; Oldenburg, Don, Barbecue Alaska, http://recipes.suite101.com/article.cfm/unusual_ice_cream_treats.