Texans betting that pickle juice's time has come
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GARLAND, Texas - When the pickles are gone and there's nothing in the jar but salty, yellow-green brine, what do you have?
If you're Stephen and Beverley Collette, the "pickle people" of Lake Highlands, Texas, you have gold in a bottle.
The Collettes and the Original Goldin Pickle Juice company in Garland, Texas, will begin selling eight- and 16-ounce bottles in a few weeks to anyone with spare change and a taste for pickles without the crunch.
"It's all coming out of the barrel this month," said Stephen Collette, who with co-owner Brandon Brooks dreams of a pallet of the pasteurized drink in every store, a 24-pack in every cupboard.
The company actually is selling a sweetened version of the brine used to make pickles, not a bottled leftover.
But the partners insist the taste is a secret passion that people with puckered palates love, but few profess.
"You know, you never go to a party and say, 'I had pickle juice last night,' " said Collette, 48, who also owns Goldin Pickle Co. "We're going to get people to come out of the closet with it."
The company should begin distributing pickle juice to 4,000 convenience stores in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma in July or August, said Tony Chitwood, a dry-groceries merchandiser in Texas.
There's no scientific study proving that pickle juice cures what ails you. But Richard Hentschel, spokesman for Pickle Packers International, a trade association in St. Charles, Ill., said he has heard testimonials claiming it soothes creaking joints and makes aches and pains disappear. It also has been touted by some athletes to stave off dehydration.
"It's just one of those folklore things that works," he said.
Hentschel has one question: Where do they get the juice?
Beverly Collette has the answer. It's a concoction blended in her kitchen. The recipe is a secret, though. The ingredient label says it contains filtered water, salt, white distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup - to cut the face-puckering tartness a tad - natural dill flavoring and preservatives.
It is brewed, packaged and pasteurized at a dairy in Texas, though they won't say where. But they don't squeeze their pickles or use the juice left over from pickles they produce.
Pickle juice? In a bottle? Brewed in Texas? Who knew?
"It is kind of goofy, unless you talk to someone who drinks it straight, then it's not goofy at all," Beverly Collette said. "It is different, but I think people are looking for different."