Family-owned and Fort Worth-based pickle juggernaut Best Maid is celebrating 100 years as a true farm-to-table business. The Dalton family started with a homemade mayonnaise and soon after, a sandwich spread made with a pickle relish. The cucumbers were grown in the family’s backyard garden. Today, you’ll find massive fields in West Texas, primarily in Hale Center and Plainview. There, about 30 million pounds of cukes are harvested starting in July and trucked to Fort Worth for processing and packing. We visited the production center in Hale a few summers ago and watched as modern tractors combed the fields and longtime BM employees sorted the produce.
Best Maid’s lineup is strong: Kosher, dill, bread ’n’ butter, sour, Polish-style, beer pickles made in collaboration with a Fort Worth brewery, relishes and much more. Pickle juice is sold by the gallon and, as of this past April, free of artificial colors. Best Maid is widely available at grocery stores and online.
There’s also a pickle emporium selling specialty items, souvenirs, wearables and more in Fort Worth.
Seasonal snow cones made with pickle juice are available every other Saturday through Sept. 5.
Best Maid Pickle Emporium
829 W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth
817-876-1980
pickleemporium.com
facebook.com/bestmaid
instagram.com/bestmaidpickleemporium
Smiley, the iconic mascot, appears on every jar. It’s difficult to pick just one, but our favorites are the bread ’n’ butter chips. PHOTOS BY MEDA KESSLER
Meda Kessler is edible Dallas Forth Worth's art director, layout designer, and more.