Not only do we not have all the facts about where it came from, but also no one can seem to agree on a story about how the Christmas pickle came about. There are many legends about how it originated, so you’ll just have to pick your favorite one.
One story alleges that during the Civil War, a captured German-American soldier miraculously survived after eating a pickle and he hung a pickle on his Christmas tree the next year.
Another story tells the tale of two boys who were killed and placed in a pickle barrel by an evil innkeeper until St. Nicholas came and found the boys and brought them back to life. But this story may have been taken from another tale of St. Nicholas saving two boys from meat barrel — not pickles.
The most plausible — and least exciting — explanation for the tradition is centered around money. German glassblowers were creating glass ornaments that were shaped like fruits, nuts, and possibly pickles. In the 1880s, the F.W. Woolworth Company began importing the German ornaments. It’s thought that the pickle ornaments weren’t selling as well, so a crafty salesman came up with the German tradition story to sell more.
Taken from the All Recipes website.
We have Christmas pickles in the museum store.
