Also called Iowa sushi, this three-ingredient appetizer doesn’t take itself too seriously — just like the region that claims it.
If you throw a Midwestern Christmas party without a plate of pickle wraps, someone will likely clock the absence immediately: Huh. No pickle wraps this year?
Sometimes called Iowa sushi, Minnesota sushi, Midwest sushi, or Lutheran sushi, these retro roll-ups — dill pickles slathered with cream cheese, then wrapped in thin slices of deli ham or corned beef — are the kind of dish that inspires both delighted squeals and deeply confused stares. They’re salty, tangy, creamy, and wildly beloved. They are also, depending on who you ask, a cherished holiday essential or a crime against appetizers.
Their origins are murky. Church basements? Junior high home ec classes? The shadowy cocktail party era of the 1950s, when cream cheese and deli meat reigned supreme? What’s clear is that pickle wraps have become a staple of holiday spreads and potlucks across the Upper Midwest, popping up everywhere from graduation parties to funerals, deck beers to Christmas Eve buffets…