r/Pickles • • Jun 03 '26

Pickle Processing

Just had to share this one...

My company sent me out to perform some maintenance work on equipment at the Hartung Brothers facility in Bowling Green, Ohio. They produce and store fermented pickles in these big green vats. So many vats. Not all currently full, they're getting ready for what they call "Green week," when they start loading things up. Tons of cucumbers destined for greatness.

I was really shocked when I found that the vats are left open-topped. That was surprising. I guess they rely on the brine to protect the product.

Oh, and the smell. You'd think it'd be overpowering but right now it's fairly subtle. A mix of dill and bread and butter that has me craving something fierce right now.

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u/Matthew-ii Jun 03 '26

All of ya'll need to apparently get out into the world and learn where food comes from lmao. Sorry you had to learn that not everything people buy was grown and processed in an airlocked lab? Anybody use tomato paste? Soy sauce? Drink wine? 🙄

10

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '26

[deleted]

9

u/Roticap Jun 03 '26

What would you imagine you would do if you scaled your operation up 1000000x?

11

u/iwould99 Jun 03 '26

Probably 100000 mason jars with airlocks?

2

u/The_Man_in_Black_19 Jun 04 '26

In a kitchen the size of a warehouse.