Those searching for the ultimate Y2K pickle need not ponder the vexing problems of the age. They only need to look on their local grocery shelf. The designation is a fitting one, since pickles have been around for about the last four thousand years. B.C. Aristotle praised the healing effect of cured cucumbers, and Cleopatra attributed a portion of her beauty to pickles. We're just not sure which portion.
Pickles have their place in American history, too.
Although Christopher Columbus brought pickles to the New World, our country is named for a pickle peddler from Seville, Spain. Amerigo Vespucci supplied ships with pickled vegetables to prevent sailors from getting scurvy on long voyages. He was obviously the better PR man. Mt. Olive's arrival in history came in 1926, when local businessmen brined a bumper crop of cucumbers with the idea of selling the brine stock to pickle firms. That plan didn't exactly work out, so the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. was created to process and pack pickles on its own.