3. Connecticut’s pickle law and the myths surrounding it
There is not a specific law in the state of Connecticut which as is so often reported requires a pickle to be able to bounce in order for it to be called a pickle. However, the emergence of the story, and the times it has been cited in legal actions, can be traced to an incident which occurred in 1948, as reported by the Hartford Courant. A pair of pickle packers, Sidney Sparer and Moses Dexler, was charged with the sale of pickles which were unfit for humans to eat. The State Food and Drug Commissioner, Frederick Holcomb, pointed out ways through which consumers could determine the quality of the pickle of which consumption was desired.
One of the ways, according to Commissioner Holcomb, was to drop the pickle from a height of about a foot or so, and if said pickle was of good quality it would bounce. Mr. Sparer’s pickles did not pass that simple test, and he was fined $500 for foisting poorly prepared pickles on the public. The remaining pickles, which had been marketed under the name Spareway, were destroyed. Besides the bouncing test, the pickles had been examined through laboratory testing, and Holcomb’s use of the bounce test was merely a demonstration, though it came to be believed to be a law after Sparer was convicted.