For the longest time, I thought that people who patronize this place are insane. It sells pickled cucumbers steeped in Kool-Aid or jam. I once accepted a sample while queuing up for another stall. One lick of a pickled cucumber smothered in maraschino cherry goo almost sent me into a hyperglycemic coma. To say that it tastes bad is like saying that the sun is warm. I’m from the USSR. I have tasted the most bizarre gastronomic concoctions. Plus, I adore pickles. But that candied pickle was atrocious beyond my scariest imaginings.
Finally, after a random YouTube segment, I figured out this place’s mystery. It’s an African-American tradition, a cultural thing. Twenty-eight years in North America, and nobody bothered to explain. Far be it from me to criticize anybody’s culinary traditions given that I’ve seen people look in horror at the Soviet-style buckwheat we chomp up like it’s nobody’s business. But I would have appreciated a hint.
Speaking of culture-specific foodstuffs, today I bought five 1 lb tubs of this:
I would have gotten more, but that’s all they had. People of my cultural background are dedicated to this thing. I had it for dinner today with plain kefir and cinnamon. We use it to make pies or quiche sort of dishes. A Kool-Aid pickle it isn’t, but it’s an example of a culture-specific food.
Clarissa's Blog 
I’m puzzled about the “unsweetened” on the label.
Is there… sweetened farmer cheese?
ethyl
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There’s a sweetened variety with raisins. Also, there’s the chocolate-glazed variety.
We’ve done many strange things to it. 😂😂
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Chocolate…. I can’t even imagine.
Truly right up there with koolaid pickles AFAICT.
But then I come from a part of the country where you used to be able to buy pickled pigs’ feet out of a huge jar at the gas station.
ethyl
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“Chocolate…. I can’t even imagine”
Here’s a Hungarian version, also found in Poland and weirdly delicious, sweet but with a savory note that compels the consumer to over consume….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%BAr%C3%B3_Rudi
“pickled pigs’ feet out of a huge jar at the gas station”
When I worked at a convenience store we had that… and pickled eggs that were dyed pink for some reason.
For a time I worked the overnight shift 11-7 and got to see what construction workers (white and black) would buy for on the job snacks… which was… very unsettling…. (lots of sardines, pork rinds, hot sauce and twinkies… I hope not eaten together…)
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You know the twinkies are just a chaser so that you don’t go back to work smelling like sardines and hot sauce 😀 The rest… used to just be the only substantial protein food you could buy at a 7-11.
I remember the pickled eggs also. I feel like it was the end of an epoch when those disappeared and all the gas station shops became uniform national chain things. No bizarre regional things anymore. No more Jr. Stores or Suwanee Swifties or free air pumps or RC colas. All somehow tied to those huge jars of weird pickled animal products.
ethyl
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