Purdy Good Pickles

Watch out, pickle aficionados. There's another local pickle option to put on your radar. Purdy Pickle Company has hit the scene with a selection of pickled items made with local and organic ingredients.

Owners Sis LaVigne and Gail Reed started Purdy Pickle in March of 2011. Both avid organic gardeners, they have been canning and pickling for a combined total of more than 50 years. After finding themselves unsatisfied with the lack of organic preserved foods, they created their business using recipes handed down from Gail's mother that have been in her family for generations.

"People have a nostalgic connection with our products," Sis and Gail told me. "They are different from other pickles because we buy our organic produce from local Washington farmers."

That's not the only thing that makes Purdy Pickles different. Besides their sweet, spicy and dill pickles, they also sell their popular pickled beets, onions, carrots and relish. The pickled beets are their biggest seller and have a complex spiced, tart and sweet flavor.

You can find Purdy Pickle Company products at Tacoma Food Co-op, Harbor Greens, The Pacific Northwest Shop and the Proctor, Puyallup and Gig Harbor Farmers Markets, as well as on their website, purdypickle.com. They will also be at the Tacoma Farmers Markets as soon as they open.