Jewish House and the travelling Kosher Pickle Factory

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The humble kosher pickle has been a crunchy staple on many a Shabbat table for centuries. Learn how to make your own.

Rabbi Pickle

It is the favourite of business people, kids, teenagers, zaidas and Rabbi Mendel Kastel from Sydney’s Jewish House. Pickles were made by our bobbas and now it’s time for Australia to be pickled, thanks to Jewish House and its partners, Coles and Trialia.

From 12-18 August 2014, Brooklyn-based Rabbi Pickle and his Kosher Pickle Factory, will be visiting Sydney and Melbourne to share his ‘secret’ pickle recipe. Numerous pickling workshops will be held at Coles Bondi Junction, Jewish Schools, Old Aged Homes and other community organisations both in Sydney and Melbourne. Rabbi Pickle will also take his Kosher Pickle Factory roadshow to a number of schools in both States to teach children to pickle their own.

Pickle fan and CEO of Jewish House, Rabbi Kastel said,”Rabbi Pickle is an institution in America. Since The Kosher Pickle Factory began in 2005, 10,000 people have prepared personalised jars of pickles. Through our partnership with Coles and Trialia we look forward to Rabbi Pickle reinvigorating the traditional art of transforming the humble cucumber into a gastronomic delight in Australia”.

The Traveling Kosher Pickle Factory was created by Rabbi Shmuel Marcus of Cypress, CA. His many visits with an 86-year old pickle-maker sparked the idea. Rabbi Marcus figured that the public school students he taught at Hebrew High would love to learn pickle-making. The opportunity would allow him to surreptitiously slip lessons about keeping kosher in as well.

What the Rabbi didn’t count on was the interest the quirky program would engender among the teens’ parents. Over 200 phone calls poured in as adults vied for the opportunity to pickle their own cucumbers. Organisers had to turn people away as the program spread like wildfire across Southern California.

When Rabbi Marcus discovered Rabbi Margolin at a school event, the two clicked and Rabbi Margolin soon became the second Pickle Rabbi. It is Rabbi Margolin who will be donning his apron to inspire the aspiring pickle-makers of Australia.

Rabbi Margolin, aka Rabbi Pickle, who is looking forward to his first trip to Australia, commented, “I have taught pickling to people in over 25 American states and provinces, including the home of pickles, New York. Many tell me that they have such fond memories of tasting their bobbas’ kosher pickles. Fortunately there has been a resurgence in interest in the art of pickling and so this important part of our tradition will be preserved for future generations”.

Adult and family pickle-making workshops will be held at Westfield Coles Bondi Junction. Each person will take home Rabbi Pickle’s famous recipe and a jar of their own home-made kosher pickles.  Bookings are essential. Call Avremi Joseph on 0404 032 166 or email [email protected] Thanks to sponsorship from Coles and Trialia, workshops are free and all are welcome. Workshops are $5 each and can booked the Jewish House web site.