They make all of their pickles and other products out of their own home kitchen, operating under South Dakota’ s cottage food laws, which allow the sale of home goods with certain guidelines and, for some things like canned items, requiring the completion of an online certification and in-person sales.
“ We’ ve got two electric canners and two propane-fired canners and when its pickle day it is an entire day for us, from morning until early afternoon,” Jeff said.“ Getting the product, prepping it, washing it, cutting it, getting the brines ready …. At most, we can have thirty-six jars in the water at a time …. We love and look forward to pickle days when there aren’ t too many of them in a row!”
They’ ve got a number of staple products to offer, starting with their Classic Dill, which is a crowd favorite, and they also have a bread-and-butter variety that they call“ Bread and Butters,” a nod to their constant sidekick, Butters, a tiny little Pomeranian-Aussie mix, who isn’ t just the namesake of the pickle, but inspired the flavor as well:“ Sweet, and a little sassy,” Meredeth said with a smile.“ Our pickle is a lower sugar content, so it is a little sweet and a little spicy.”
“ Curried Cauliflower is a unique top of the line bestseller,” Meredeth continued,“ because it is different than something you’ d find in the grocery store …. That is a labor of love; that is one of the more intensive pickle days. You feel like you’ re cutting and prepping cauliflower for hours! But the flavors are unique.” They love to use it to make deviled eggs, another recipe they enjoy sharing.
“ We have a pickled asparagus,” she continued,“ that we call
Butters, the namesake for Bread and Butters, Fick’ s Picks’ spicy and sweet bread and butter variety
‘ Are You Bloody Spearious?’ and it’ s a Bloody Mary inspired asparagus. You take a bite of that asparagus and it is like a bite of Bloody Mary, all those classic flavors. We have our Willy-Nilly Dilly Bean, a classic dill green bean, and its spicy cousin, which we call our Sassy Bean.”
And then there is their pineapple relish, Pineapple Paradise, a sweet and spicy garnish.“ Even though our pineapple is a best seller, people always want to know what to use it for, so we always have recipe ideas,” Meredeth said.“ Put it on pork tenderloin or fish tacos. I love to put it on cottage cheese. My favorite snack is cream cheese on a cracker, and put that Pineapple Paradise on it, kind of like pepper jelly. People don’ t know they need pickled pineapple in their life until they have it!”
“ All of these recipes are based on hard tested recipes,” Jeff said,“ and then we add ingredients and tweak specific quantities to make them our own.”
In addition to their tried-and-true staples that they keep in stock, throughout the year they whip up smaller batches with seasonally-available produce, like their summertime Classic Salsa.“ We’ ll make 50 jars and when they’ re gone they’ re gone. For example, last summer the Fruit Truck was coming through town and we picked up a few flats of Palisade peaches, and a day later the guys came in with roasted Hatch chiles.” What better than to make a batch of Hatch Chile Palisade Peach salsa? It flew off the shelves.
Massa Dental Office 605-745-3975 • 602 Jennings Ave. • Hot Springs
20 Down Country Roads June / July 2026