I have to ask.....pickles

gamesandgains
gamesandgains Posts: 640 Member
edited November 9 in Food and Nutrition
If a pickle is actually a cucumber preserved in vinegar and brine, how then are Vlasic pickles calorie free when a normal cucumber has calories? Legit question. I need you scientists to sssplain dis to me. I has the dumb.

Replies

  • goddessofawesome
    goddessofawesome Posts: 563 Member
    They're not calorie free. The reason the label says that is because the amount of calories in one is so minimal that it meets the FDA "guidelines" as to when you can have "0" anything.
  • BlackTimber
    BlackTimber Posts: 230 Member
    Both have calories. Check serving size? Or just bad information.
  • gamesandgains
    gamesandgains Posts: 640 Member
    @goddessofawesome Ahhhhh... that makes sense. So eating large quantities would eventually equate to calories. Thanks!
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Not calorie free - but if you eat a small enough amount - like 1/4 of a pickle or less it is under 5 calories and can be labeled as 0.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Generally, the serving size on a pickle is something like 1/4 of a spear. That's because anything below 5 calories they can label as a zero calorie food, so they just make the serving size small enough to get it below 5 calories.
  • goddessofawesome
    goddessofawesome Posts: 563 Member
    gamesandgains wrote: »
    @goddessofawesome Ahhhhh... that makes sense. So eating large quantities would eventually equate to calories. Thanks!

    Yes but I don't think it would be a lot. Unless you're eating one of those humongous jars.

    Annnnd. . . . now I want pickles!

  • LunaMischief
    LunaMischief Posts: 166 Member
    It would be 0 calories to me, because I would not eat them LOL

    Pickles are gross, IMO. But I know I'm in the minority on that one :p
  • gamesandgains
    gamesandgains Posts: 640 Member
    Awesome, thank you guys.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    According to the USDA nutrition database, a dill pickle has 12 calories per 100 grams, or about 3.4 calories per ounce. Eat a pound of pickles and you'll have consumed only 54 calories. But your sodium will be through the roof (if you can actually eat a pound of pickles and keep them down, that is).
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Legally, they have no calories.

    In the real world, they have some.

    With the exception do all that sodium, pickles are perfect.
  • Linnaea27
    Linnaea27 Posts: 639 Member
    This is like mustard; the bottles say 0 calories but I know that is utter BS because mustard SEEDS have calories and mustard in a bottle also contains wheat flour. As someone else mentioned, there is a legal margin of error in calorie listings on packages which allows very low calorie foods to be marketed as 0 calorie foods, which is dumb!
  • peachyfuzzle
    peachyfuzzle Posts: 1,122 Member
    bwogilvie wrote: »
    According to the USDA nutrition database, a dill pickle has 12 calories per 100 grams, or about 3.4 calories per ounce. Eat a pound of pickles and you'll have consumed only 54 calories. But your sodium will be through the roof (if you can actually eat a pound of pickles and keep them down, that is).

    Martin Lawrence taught me that if I washed the pickle off in soda that it doesn't count against my sodium...
  • court_alacarte
    court_alacarte Posts: 219 Member
    i buy the big-*kitten* jar of the del-dixi dill pickles and it actually says 5 calories for 1/4 of a pickle. hey man, a 20-calorie addition or snack is A-OK with me :)
  • stacceyw
    stacceyw Posts: 4
    edited December 2014
    Martin Lawrence taught me that if I washed the pickle off in soda that it doesn't count against my sodium...

    That's interesting, cause I'm trying to keep my sodium down and I love adding pickles to my tuna... (also high in sodium *sigh* )
  • blukitten
    blukitten Posts: 922 Member
    goddessofawesome wrote: »
    gamesandgains wrote: »
    @goddessofawesome Ahhhhh... that makes sense. So eating large quantities would eventually equate to calories. Thanks!

    Yes but I don't think it would be a lot. Unless you're eating one of those humongous jars.

    Annnnd. . . . now I want pickles!

    ^^^ this- I should have stayed out of this thread
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
    I'm thinking even a whole jar at 54 calories doesn't even "really" count. If you go over your limit by only 54 calories, that's still a win. If you repeat this from meal to meal, eating a jar of pickles, and 3 bunches of celery...yeah, that can add up. Before you know it you might be 150 calories over for the day, and painfully stuffed and will hope to never see anything with sodium in it ever again.
  • gamesandgains
    gamesandgains Posts: 640 Member
    c4rtr4t wrote: »
    i buy the big-*kitten* jar of the del-dixi dill pickles and it actually says 5 calories for 1/4 of a pickle. hey man, a 20-calorie addition or snack is A-OK with me :)

    @c4rtr4t for real though! It's my go to treat when I want volume for the least amt of calories.

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