Featured News

We are so excited to share the news that our Organic Sauerkraut has received top honors at the 2024 Good Food Awards! 

The winners were announced on April 29th at the historic Portland Center Stage at The Armory in Portland, Oregon. Real Pickles co-op members Kristin Howard and Katie Korby received the award at the ceremony celebrating 218 of America’s best food crafters.

“We’re so proud to receive this award,” said Kristin Howard, General Manager of Real Pickles. “Producing food that is both delicious and grown in our region is at the core of Real Pickles’ mission, and we’re honored to be recognized by the Good Food Foundation, alongside producers nationwide who have similar values.”

The organic green cabbage used in the winning recipe was grown by area farms, including Atlas Farm in South Deerfield, Massachusetts and Harlow Farm in Westminster, Vermont.

Other winners from New England include Stoneman Brewery in Colrain, Massachusetts, Tavernier Chocolates in Brattleboro, Vermont and Champlain Orchards in Shoreham, Vermont.

The winners rose to the top in a tasting of 1,650 entries, then passed a rigorous vetting to confirm they meet Good Food Awards standards regarding ingredient sourcing and environmentally sound agricultural practices.

See the full list of 2024 Good Food Award Winners here

We are thrilled to welcome four new member-owners into our co-operative! K Adler, Gillis MacDougall, Amy Leprade and Victor Signore have joined fourteen other member-owners, raising the percentage of co-op members to 73% of all staff at Real Pickles! We strive to create good local jobs with shared profits that empower staff to direct the future of the business. Vegetable coordinator Victor Signore says he is “excited to be a part of something that is having a positive effect in supporting our local agriculture, local economy and our community. Being a worker-owner means that I can help shape the future of Real Pickles”. Amy Leprade, production and shipping assistant, adds, “What excites me the most (about becoming a member-owner at Real Pickles) is the opportunity to build alliances with like-minded people, which can help shape the kind of community I wish to live in.” Fermentation coordinator K Adler says, “It feels fulfilling to be participating in a process that has a history to be admired and a future that is attainable.” Production assistant Gillis MacDougall is the company’s youngest co-op member at 18 years old. He says that Real Pickles has played an important role throughout his life and it made sense to him to become a member-owner. Real Pickles is proud to be part of the co-operative movement to build and strengthen democratic economies throughout the local community and beyond.

We’re so excited to welcome TWO new worker-owners into our co-op, Kate Hunter and Kat Smith!! As a worker co-operative, Real Pickles strives to create good local jobs with shared profits and empower our staff to direct the future of our business. We are proud to be part of the co-operative movement to build and strengthen democratic economies in our community and beyond. Kat says she’s “excited to be part of a team of people that is working toward restructuring the way businesses are run in the community.” Kate is glad to be taking on this meaningful role in a business with a mission that she believes in. By expanding workplace democracy in our business, we ensure that there are more voices shaping our collective economic future. We are so excited for Kat and Kate to join us in determining what our co-op will look like in the years to come!

We invite you to take a look at our FY’21 Annual Report highlighting some of our work toward building a stronger and more just food system in the past year. In the report, you’ll find details on our handling of the pandemic and how we supported our staff throughout, while also making good and healthy food available to our customers. We also share news on our newest building project to increase our resilience, an exciting community award, our TWO new worker owners, and our commitment to racial justice. Check it Out Here>>

Real Pickles is in operation under the COVID-19 Essential Services provision within Massachusetts Governor Baker’s recent emergency order. We are operating with reduced staff and following strict guidance established by the MA Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and US Food & Drug Administration. All staff who can work remotely are doing so, and those working on-site are following social distancing protocols in all aspects of production, shipping, deliveries, and office work.

Our top priorities include:

• caring for our employees and keeping them safe;
• continuing to provide nourishing food to our community during this time when health and nutrition are of utmost importance;
• supplying regional grocers who are experiencing surging demand and intermittent distribution and supply; and
• successfully steering our business through these challenging times so that we can continue to provide healthy food, meaningful jobs and ownership opportunities into the future.

To all our customers, please know we are following strict protocols at all times to keep our product and employees safe.

For any questions, or to arrange curbside pickup, feel free to contact us at info@realpickles.com.

Wishing everyone health and safety during this difficult time.

– The crew at Real Pickles.

On Friday January 17th, Real Pickles co-owners Annie Winkler and Greg Nichols accepted Good Food Award medals for our Organic Beet Kvass and Organic Nettle Kraut! The San Francisco ceremony was hosted by renowned farm labor activist Dolores Huerta, food author Michael Pollan, and chef Alice Waters.  The Good Food Awards recognizes American food and drink crafters who demonstrate both a mastery of their craft and a commitment to maintaining exceptionally high social and environmental standards in their work. 

A timely example of Real Pickles’ commitment to responsible food is our recent 31-kW solar array which, installed beside our existing 17-kW array, makes our facility 100% solar powered. “Environmental sustainability and strong regional food systems are at the core of our mission,” says Dan Rosenberg, founder and general manager. “We are always seeking ways to reduce our carbon emissions, increase our use of renewable energy, and support policies that push for climate mitigation.”Read More

We’re proud to announce that TWO Real Pickles products have been named Good Food Awards Finalists for 2020!!  The Organic Beet Kvass and Organic Nettle Kraut both had high scores in the blind tasting competition and met the strict vetting criteria for sustainability. We’re proud to be among 307 companies in the running for a 2020 Good Food Award. With a demonstrated commitment to environmental stewardship and growing their businesses in harmony with a better food system, these outstanding crafters represent the nation’s best in delicious, sustainable fare.

We’re excited to share several great stories of our mission-related work in our 2019 Annual Report, including our new solar array that makes us 100% solar powered! We also highlight scientific and community business collaborations, two new worker-owners, and our thoughts on a climate-resilient food system.  And, our Annual Report welcomes a new crop of socially-minded investors supporting our work for a better food system!  Check it out>>

We made new investments in renewable energy this year! In the fall, we installed a solar hot water system on the south side of our building with help from Spartan Solar based here in Greenfield. We saw instant reductions in our natural gas usage, and we look forward to the system providing all of our hot water in the summer. We hired our worker co-op neighbors PV Squared to install a 31 kW photovoltaic system on our flat roof. The array is made up of 2,000 square feet of panels and the generated power is shared between the two businesses, Real Pickles and PV Squared. Along with our original 17 kW array installed in 2011, Real Pickles will be once again 100% solar powered!

We are so excited to share the news that our Organic Garlic Dills AND our Organic Garlic Kraut received top honors at the 2019 Good Food Awards!

The winners were announced Friday January 11th at a 900-person gala at the historic San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center. The Good Food Awards recognizes American food and drink crafters who create tasty, authentic and responsible products and, in doing so, better the nation’s food system. Read More

AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientists have mapped and characterized microbial populations at Real Pickles’ facility and report that its microbiome was distinct between production and fermentation areas and that the raw vegetables themselves – cabbages destined for sauerkraut – were the main source of fermentation-related microbes in production areas rather than handling or other environmental sources.  Read More

We’ve completed our fifth year as a worker co-operative, and we are thriving! As a healthy business with nearly half of our employees engaged in ownership, we know that strong partnerships with our community are central to our success. We are deeply grateful to all our partners – the talented organic
 farmers who supply our top-quality ingredients, our loyal customers committed to our products and mission, our distributors who share our vision for a healthy regional food system, our community investors and lenders, and so many more.  Read all about it in our latest Annual Report! >>>

Our first-annual Small Batch Line is just that: small batches of fermented vegetables! We’ve teamed up with our local farmers to bring you three delicious, fresh and seasonal recipes for 2018:  Spicy Carrot Escabeche, Shallot and Herb Kraut, and Hakurei Turnip with Dulse. Be sure to try them soon, as they won’t last long! Read More

We are excited to announce that Real Pickles has been named the 2017 Western Massachusetts Sustainable Small Business of the Year by the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts! This award is presented to leading local independent businesses in Western and Eastern Massachusetts who are helping to build economies that are local, green and fair. We are proud to be recognized for doing work that is so central to our mission of helping to build a more sustainable food system! Read More