Best Maid Pickles

10/14/2026

The Memory Jar,

𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗘𝗟𝗗𝗦: 𝗧𝗪𝗢 𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗦

Last week, we followed our cucumbers from seed to harvest in Hale Center, Texas.

Once harvested, washed, sorted, and weighed, it’s time to hit the road. Throughout the season, trucks make the approximately seven-hour journey to North Texas, sometimes as many as 10 in a single day.

But not all cucumbers take the same route.

Best Maid makes two types of pickles: processed and fresh pack. Their destination depends on which type they’ll become.

𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗡𝗘: 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗗 — 𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗙𝗜𝗘𝗟𝗗

Cucumbers destined for processed pickles travel to our Mansfield tank yard in grain-bed hopper trailers. At Hale Center, an up-and-across conveyor fills two compartments, each holding about 25,000 pounds — 50,000 pounds per truckload.

Trucks travel overnight to avoid the Texas heat, limiting moisture loss and helping protect cucumber quality.

In Mansfield, the hoppers open from the bottom, releasing cucumbers onto a conveyor beneath the trailer. Connected conveyors lift and carry them across into the tanks.

𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗘 𝗧𝗪𝗢: 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗛 𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗞 — 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗛

Fresh-pack cucumbers take a cooler ride to our Fort Worth manufacturing facility. They’re packed into large, heavy-duty corrugated boxes on pallets, iced, and loaded by forklift into refrigerated trailers, known as reefers.

Ice and refrigeration help keep them fresh, cold, and crisp along the way.

At Fort Worth, the boxes are unloaded into our manufacturing facility, where the cucumbers are prepared to become one of the many flavors in our fresh-pack pickle line.

𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀. 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱.

Next week, we’ll follow the next leg of their journey and uncover how each route shapes what comes next…

10/13/2026

Pickle Pals,

What can’t these little dills do?

Straight from the jar? Obviously. Alongside your favorite sandwich? Absolutely. Stealing the spotlight on your charcuterie board? You bet your dill they can!

Small in size, big on crunch, and always the life of the party.

Available at the Best Maid Pickle Emporium and online at https://bestmaidpickles.com/shop/.

10/07/2026

The Memory Jar,

𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗦𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗩𝗘𝗦𝗧: 𝗔 𝗦𝗜𝗫-𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞 𝗖𝗥𝗢𝗣, 𝗔 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥-𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗡

Last week, we shared how Best Maid’s West Texas farming operation began.

But what happens in those fields?

Based in 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝗮𝘀, Best Maid contracts with local growers who provide and prepare approximately 3,000 acres for planting.

𝗜𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱.

Our farming team plants non-GMO cucumber seeds using GPS-guided planters. From there, the clock starts ticking: a cucumber crop takes about six weeks from planting to harvest.

Fields are irrigated, cultivated, and carefully monitored. Local growers oversee the overhead irrigation with guidance from our farming team.

West Texas offers hot days, cool nights, and low humidity, ideal conditions for cucumbers, but sandy soil brings challenges. Young plants are protected from blowing sand, weeds are controlled through cultivation, and once the cucumbers become too large for equipment to move through the fields, crews control weeds by hand hoeing.

Then come some of the most important members of the team: 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒔.

Best Maid rents approximately 1,700 beehives throughout the season — about 50 million bees. Each female cucumber flower is open for only about 24 hours and must be visited by bees approximately 8–10 times for pollination.

Planting is staggered throughout the season, so harvest is, too. We may be planting one field, irrigating another, placing bees in a third, and hoeing another — all while harvesting cucumbers just down the road.

At harvest, two large Vogel harvesters move through the fields. A blade runs beneath the ground, finger chains lift the plants, and fast-moving rollers separate the cucumbers from the vines.

Freshly harvested cucumbers head straight to the pickle shed, where they are washed, optically sorted, and hand graded for quality and size.

𝗦𝗶𝘅 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁. 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿, 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱𝘀. 𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱.

Next week, we follow the cucumbers, and their next stop is…

09/30/2026

The Memory Jar,

𝟭𝟵𝟲𝟬𝘀: 𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗘𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗛.

By the 1960s, Best Maid was growing in more ways than one.

As sales increased throughout Texas, so did the need for cucumbers. The Dalton family’s backyard fields could no longer come close to meeting demand, and relying solely on outside growers wasn’t the answer for the future.

The Daltons took a major step toward becoming vertically integrated by establishing their own farming operation in West Texas.

It started with just a few acres and cucumbers harvested by hand. As the crop grew and agricultural technology advanced, hand picking transitioned to machine harvesting.

More cucumbers also meant more tanks.

Riverside was running out of room, while increasing demand meant the Fort Worth plant needed more space for manufacturing.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱.

In 1956, Best Maid began establishing a new tank yard in Mansfield. Development continued into the 1960s, creating the additional tank capacity Best Maid needed.

For a time, the Fort Worth and Mansfield tank yards operated together. By the mid-1970s, tank operations had fully transitioned to Mansfield, freeing valuable space at Riverside for manufacturing.

In the 1980s, Best Maid took another major step forward, becoming the first in the industry to begin transitioning from traditional wooden tanks to fiberglass tanks.

Today, the West Texas farming operation has grown to approximately 𝟯,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘀, 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟯𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘂𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿.

And Mansfield? The tank yard was created because Best Maid needed room to grow can now hold approximately 𝟰𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲𝘀.

Next week, long before the lid goes on, there’s a story most people never see.

09/25/2026

Pickle Pals,

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝟭𝟵𝟮𝟲!

We’re 100, and 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗗𝗔𝗬 we’re celebrating the only way Best Maid knows how — with pickles, music, food and a whole lot of fun!

Join us for the 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭𝟭 𝗔𝗠–𝟳 𝗣𝗠 and help us celebrate a century of being part of Texas traditions.

FREE ENTRY
FREE Pickle Tastings ALL DAY
FREE Photo Booth | 11–5 PM
FREE Face Painting & Balloon Animals | 12–5 PM
Smiley appearances
Food trucks
DJ spinning tunes all day
Family-friendly activities
Contests & giveaways
Centennial merch
VIP Packages available for purchase
And a whole lot of pickle-packed fun!

𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟲 | 𝟭𝟭 𝗔𝗠–𝟳 𝗣𝗠
𝟴𝟮𝟵 𝗪. 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗕𝗹𝘃𝗱. | 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵

Come party like it’s 1926 — 𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘂𝘀.

09/23/2026

The Memory Jar,

𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟔: 𝐀 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐖.

Last week, Best Maid hit the road, carrying jars of pickles and condiments across North and West Texas.

But by the mid-1940s, continued growth meant Best Maid was running out of room once again.

This time, the Dalton family wasn’t just looking for a larger building. They purchased land with the future in mind, with enough space to grow, expand and build as demand increased.

In 1946, Best Maid opened its new offices, manufacturing plant and distribution center at 1400 S. Riverside Drive in Fort Worth, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐝’𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲.

The new property also gave Best Maid room for something it had never had before: 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝.

Following the pickle industry standards of the time, the original Riverside tank yard used large wooden tanks to transform fresh cucumbers into pickles right on site. As production grew, so did the tank yard, eventually reaching around 100 tanks.

And that extra land? It didn’t stay empty for long.

Over the decades, the Riverside facility would be expanded again and again as more Texans put Best Maid on their tables.

𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐞𝐝.

Next week, how did a place built for growth run out of room by the mid-1960s? The answer wasn’t just one thing, and neither was the solution. Best Maid was about to make two moves that would take the family business beyond Fort Worth in more ways than one.

Pictures from top to bottom:
1946 - 1400 S. Riverside Drive, Fort Worth
1956 - Ariel shot
1970’s - Ariel shot

09/22/2026

Pickle Pals,

𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐘!

From BBQ, burgers, tacos, hot dogs and corn dogs to sweet treats, shaved ice, refreshing drinks and more — 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐞!

Come celebrate 100 YEARS of Best Maid with us and make a day of it! 💚

📅 Saturday, September 26
⏰ 11 AM–7 PM
📍 829 W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth
🎟️ FREE ENTRY
✨ VIP Packages Available
☀️🌧️ RAIN OR SHINE

𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝. 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬. 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.

See y’all Saturday!

𝐆𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐕𝐈𝐏 𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬.

09/21/2026

There are pickles.
There are prizes.
There will be bragging rights.

Get your FREE tickets on Eventbrite!

09/21/2026

Pickle Pals,

Did anyone ever tell you to keep your hands out of the pickle jar?

But if no one’s looking… did you 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 break the rules?

Asking for a dill friend. 💚

Available at the Best Maid Pickle Emporium and online at bestmaidproducts.com.

09/18/2026

💚 CLAW FOR THE CAUSE 💙

Best Maid Pickles is proud to support Make-A-Wish North Texas and their mission to create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.

Join us at our Centennial Block Party and play Claw for the Cause for a chance to win Best Maid merchandise! 100% of proceeds from the claw machines benefit Make-A-Wish North Texas.

For 100 years, Best Maid has been the taste that makes you smile, so together, let’s help put more smiles on some very deserving faces. 💙💚

📅 September 26 | 11 AM–7 PM
📍 Home Base: 829 W. Vickery Blvd. Fort Worth TX
🎟️ FREE ENTRY | VIP Tickets Available for Purchase
☀️ Rain or Shine