While taste and crunch may be top of mind when shopping for pickles, price is also a big factor. There are many brands that offer all sorts of pickles at varying price points. The price on the packaging may be misleading since you’re not consuming all the brine and spices in the jar, just the pickle. This had us questioning what brand gives you the most pickle in your pickles, so we tested.
What pickle brand has the cheapest price per pickle? Mt. Olive has the cheapest pickle by weight, coming in at $0.12 per ounce in our tests.
| Brand | Pickle Weight to Brine Ratio | Pickle Price Per Ounce |
|---|---|---|
| Mt. Olive | 67% | $0.12 |
| Vlasic | 55% | $0.15 |
| Farm Ridge Foods | 76% | $0.16 |
| Claussen | 56% | $0.27 |
| Cleveland Kitchen | 74% | $0.29 |
| Dietz and Watson | 64% | $0.34 |
| Grillo’s Pickles | 45% | $0.48 |
We tested seven different pickle brands to find out what the cheapest pickle is per ounce. To account for package weight, brine, and spices, we performed an experiment. We will review our methodology and observations.
The Pickle Brands Tested
We tested the following brands. These were purchased from a local Walmart and all were dill spears. We did our best to purchase the same size container of pickles, but our methodology accounted for this and allowed us to expand our test group.
- Farm Ridge Foods
- Claussen
- Mt. Olive
- Vlasic
- Grillo’s Pickles
- Cleveland Kitchen
- Dietz and Watson
Conducting the Experiment
For our experiment, we used a food scale, and a quart Pyrex measuring container. The steps for taking measurements are below. We measured everything in grams and then converted to ounces. Taking measurement of the container unopened, and then without the pickles in it allows us to figure out how much the pickles and brine weigh separately. From this, we calculated the pickle to brine ratio, showing us how much pickle you are paying for. Doing this would account for the brands that were smaller packages than the others. To keep it as even as we could, all pickles were dill spears.
- Record weight of each pickle brand by container, unopened.
- Record the weight displayed on the package.
- Record weight of quart Pyrex container to ensure proper measurement
- Remove pickles with utensil and place into the quart Pyrex dish for weighing.
- Record weight of Pyrex container with pickles.
- Record weight of empty pickle brand container.
- Place Pickles back into branded container.
- Clean and thoroughly dry Pyrex container.
- Record the price paid for each brand of pickle container
Observations While Conducting the Experiment
We made some observations about the pickles while conducting this experiment. While all of types of pickles were dill spears, their appearance, shape, color, and smell varied greatly. Even though they were all dill spears, this is not surprising since each brand has their own manufacturing process.
Grillo’s had a large amount of dill and garlic in their packaging, but had the smallest and slimmest spears. Grillo’s color stayed mostly like that of a cucumber. Mt. Olive had a distinct yellowish green color that matched their packaging. Mt. Olive’s pickles were the thickest we tested and had very round edges which did not appear very “spear” like but were labeled as such. Cleveland Kitchen had the most pungent smell out of all the brands we tested.
We also observed that the two cheapest brands, Mt. Olive and Vlasic, were also the two brands in our test group that were not kept in the refrigerated section of the store. Grillo’s was most expensive brand, and had the largest presence of spices in the container. There are many factors that go into pricing pickles, and this is not a coincidence.
This experiment calculated the most pickle for your money, but there are many other factors that go into finding the pickle that is right for you. Taste, texture, and even availability are all factors that go into selecting your preferred brand of pickle. We encourage everyone to try different brands of pickles and find their favorite.