I don’t drink martinis. But these…these I eat. Sorry, I’m skipping ahead here. The jar without a proper label, and its contents, are Froehlich’s Martini Pickles.

Looking at them, you can see the obvious. These are not pickles. As in, transformed cucumbers or okra or carrots or whatever people pickle now. Nope. These are…tomatoes. The tag has the full list of ingredients, a whopping seven of them. Tomatoes, water, vinegar, and assorted seasoning. The usual suspect for pickles.

Tomatoes! I haven’t ever had a pickled tomato until this point. They look so strange. I can’t tell if they were originally green/yellow tomatoes or just turned that way from the brine. They have a teardrop shape and have a plump body to them. You pop them into your mouth and you know they’re full of juice and ready to burst. And they do!

The flavor hit is all front-loaded, giving way to the less flavorful inside juices. The front hit has that vinegary-pickle bite to it with a bit of salt in it. Tasty. On the dill or sweet spectrum it is on the z-axis. Not really sweet, but not like a dill either. It’s unique. I mean, it’s a pickled tomato that you’re supposed to stake with a toothpick and have with a martini. That’s pretty unique.

The texture is really the selling point for me. Olives are same-old, same old, normal pickles have their range, but Froehlich’s Martini Pickles are in another dimension. It has a crisp exterior and a soft, watery interior. It’s weird and tasty.

I would get it for that reason alone: it’s not something you can find everywhere. Like how many pickled tomatoes do you see everyday? Not many! Or at all! Regular pickles or olives are abundant. This is a treasured rarity, something new and exciting and probably destined to become some fad. I’m early to the party. Come join me and eat some Froehlich’s Martini Pickles.