Puckers Pickles
July 31st, 2013 · No Comments · Posted in rural life
No doubt the best pickle in Washington County
One of our greatest discoveries searching for farm property in Washington County was a locally made fermented pickle sold fresh: Puckers Pickles. We liked the garlic pickles. We loved the kimchi. But we were absolutely smitten with a pickled Thai salad that seemed to be unique to Puckers. We couldn’t get enough of it and always brought a big jar home to D.C. whenever we could find it.
Imagine our chagrin when, on returning to Washington County last year, we found the Puckers Pickle store in Greenwich closed. We knew that is where they had been making the pickles, in an industrial park off Route 40 on the edge of town. On previous visits, we’d been able to stock up on all our favorite pickles. Now there were no signs of life at all, and no indication where Puckers Pickle had gone.
Strangely enough, we found the pickles for sale in other locations, such as the Battenkill Creamery in Salem. But was the company still in business? Why no Thai salad? No one seemed able to answer our questions. When I moved here in May, I found that in the spot where the pickle factory had been was now a barbecue restaurant. Oh, woe.
Then on Sunday, out of the blue, all was revealed. As I strolled onto the grounds of the Salem Courthouse Community Center for the annual Al Fresco brunch, I walked smack dab into a Puckers Pickle vendor who turned out to be none other than the company’s owner. Her name is Kelley.
Kelley explained that she had moved her pickling works into an old farmhouse in nearby Hebron, where she’d installed a commercial kitchen. “I cut my overhead in half,” she explained. The pickle business is booming. She sells her pickles in several area farmers markets and a few stores, such as Battenkill Creamery.
So what about the Thai salad? I inquired.
“It sells like hot cakes,” Kelley replied. In fact, it sells so fast she had none to offer. It’s not even listed among the products on the company’s website. I’d have to travel to a health food store in a mall in Saratoga to get some. Or maybe take a drive to a certain farmhouse in Hebron?
I can’t believe that the best pickles in Washington County–made locally no less–are not offered for sale at the food co-op in Cambridge. According to Kelley, management there decided not to stock them because they don’t have a long enough shelf life. And Battnenkill Creamery doesn’t carry the Thai salad because, Kelley conjectured, “it’s too ‘out there’.”
This has got to change.
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