People on TikTok like to get creative with their food. New, slightly questionable food trends break out practically every day, inspiring others to try new, wacky foods. Like TikToker Olivia Maher’s “girl dinner,” the onion boil, or the copycats of the viral chocolate muffin from the 2024 Olympic Village.
To finish off 2024, we’ve got one of the strangest, most intriguing trends I’ve ever seen — pretty pickles. Pretty pickles, or as some have called them, “glickles,” are gaining popularity on the app under this strange, almost foreboding sound originally from user @densewaffles. They add a little sparkle and pizazz to a snack favorite.
As a huge pickle enthusiast, I was obviously intrigued by this trend. So what are “pretty pickles” and how can you make them at home?
What are pretty pickles?
“Pretty pickles” combine two of my favorite things — pickles and edible glitter, an unlikely duo that somehow works as a harmonic combo. Combining edible glitter with a classic jar of pickles doesn’t do anything to the flavor, so don’t worry about ruining your favorite salty snack. But the glitter does everything for the appearance of a jar of pickles and makes them so much more fun to eat. After the glitter is dumped in and the jar is mixed, the juice takes most of the pigment of the glitter, often adding a vibrant, almost hazardous-looking pool for the pickles to swim in.
How do you make pretty pickles?
You can use whatever type of pickle is your fave, in terms of flavor and shape. Most of the videos use pickle chips, but really any shape will work perfectly, including spears, slices, crinkle cut, and gherkins. You can add any type of food-grade glitter, like this one available in all different colors on Amazon.
People use many different colors for their pretty pickles — blue, green, gold, and silver. One color of glitter that doesn’t always look so good in the end once combined with the green juice is pink — it can turn brown, like how it did here when user @dixon_butz tried the trend. It just depends on how pigmented both the juice and the glitter is. Some make the pink work, like user @babyanagram.
Each individual pickle winds up with a coat of glitter that adds a glossy shimmer to the snack. In the end, the pigment doesn’t change the look of the actual pickle too much. Silver or white glitter can also make the juice less opaque and adds just a hint of a shimmer. No matter what color or type of pickle you use, it will end up looking subtly glossy, shimmery, and of course, pretty.
Will you hop on the (slightly chaotic) pretty pickle trend?