Out of all the in America's hall of fame, the is easily one of the most recognizable. That's because it's a technicolor marvel, starting with a hot dog (usually manufactured by local purveyor Vienna Beef) that's topped with yellow mustard, chopped onions, sliced tomatoes, a pickle spear, (which are a real type of pepper), a dash of celery salt, and a finely diced, visually arresting, neon-green condiment that sometimes baffles the eye. That mystery condiment is pickle relish.
And there's no need to adjust the settings on your display, because our hometown version of relish really does come in that unusual color. Aside from the emerald hue, it's just your typical sweet pickle relish, but its color is one of the many things that makes a proper Chicago-style hot dog so unique. Without it, a fully-loaded Chicago-style hot dog wouldn't quite be the food icon it is today.
How Chicago's neon-green pickle relish gets its bright color That intriguing color doesn't come from a specialty crop of mutant cucumbers grown exclusively for Chicago's hot dog market. The main manufacturer of Chicago's hot dogs, Vienna Beef, produces a neon green relish that is simply made of cucumbers and other ingredients that give the relish a sweet and tangy flavor. And that green color? It's from just a touch of blue food coloring added to the mix, which doesn't alter the taste of the final product.
Since this is just regular old sweet pickle relish, that means you can use the stuff however you see fit, whe.
