Great gherkins! Palm Beach Synagogue summer campers try hands at pickle-making

The humble cucumber is a staple of the basic green salad, but if you take a handful of the oblong guys and plunge them into a dill mixture, you've got a whole different taste explosion.

The boys and girls of Palm Beach Synagogue's Camp Gan Israel Palm Beach delved deep into the briny world of the pickle last month as one of their activities. Thirty children ages 4 to 12 mixed brine, added garlic and dill, and put their open-barrel creations into jars at the end of it all.

Rabbi Yosef Rice was the picklemaster for the event, explaining to his campers, clad in aprons and toques, the mysteries of the gherkin and its crunchy cousins.

Participants mixed brine, tasted raw garlic and tried out their creations, but that wasn't all. Campers also took part in music, art, sports and dance as part of their summer curriculum.

One hopes those pickles went to good use this past Independence Day, or are awaiting their debut on some future sandwich in September. In any case, this day at Camp Gan taught the children the art of tasty transformation.

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