Sounds like he's really saying drink vinegar.
Since that's the primary ingredient in pickling. I did a search on "vinegar cure for strep throat" and one of the first links I came across was this:
http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/sore_throat.html
About a quarter of the way down the page you'll see a cayenne and apple cider vinegar and honey tonic that people were giving positive feed back on for their sore throat. Also I saw in my google search results websites that discuss apple cider vinegar with relation to curing sore throats. So the doc is saying eat pickles, but it seems a better and more accurate solution would be to hone in on the vinegar that's in the pickles, since I doubt cucumbers do anything for sore throats.
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit ... what a ride!" - Anonymous
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"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
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