Pickles were made to be eaten outside the growing season and gave variety to a diet which had once consisted mainly of dates, wheat or rice, goat or camel meat, and milk. Today pickles are served in small bowls to accompany almost every Arabic dinner. Fruit pickles, such as orange and lemon rind, apricot, and mango are typical condiments. Pickling is an old method of preserving food by immersing it in salt water or vinegar. A 10 per cent solution of brine discourages unwanted bacteria and stabilises vegetables for the pickling process.
Vinegar tends to harden vegetables and delay softening.
Pickles can be made easily with cucumber, carrot, cauliflower, green pepper and chilli. Pickles can be eaten as an appetiser. Eggplant pickle does not have vinegar. The eggplant is cut into fingers and deepfried with garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt, sherry and Tabasco sauce, says Amgad. In Cairo, there are special pickle shops selling up to 15 varieties of pickles, he says.