Full Belly Files | Behind the Scenes at Pacific Pickle Works

This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on December 23, 2022. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

Given that he or she may be reading this right now, I’m not going to say which of my friends or relatives is getting a subscription to a pickle club for Christmas this year. But anyone searching for a last-minute gift in this late hour of holiday shopping would score serious points by opting for one the subscriptions offered by Santa Barbara’s own Pacific Pickle Works, which pumps out award-winning jars around the clock at a bustling factory on the Lower Eastside.  

I’m a present-buying procrastinator, but to my credit, I’d actually decided to go with pickle-club-as-gift months ago. Of course, I didn’t actually do anything about it until a couple of weeks back, when I was stuck in my room with COVID.

After searching the internets high and low for a proper pickle service, I wasn’t satisfied opting for a club that’s run by a company that seems to do all sorts of clubs. And I wasn’t exactly confident that more specialized companies would deliver the pickle quality I hoped for, especially since most don’t list what kind of pickles might be coming. Plus, these clubs aren’t cheap no matter which one you select, so I wanted to choose wisely, because these jars should be tantalizing taste buds rather than taking up shelf space.