I’m not sure why, but I’ve just had a taste for dill pickles lately. Pretty sure I’m not pregnant (which would make news), nor do I think I’m craving salty stuff, but I just have not been able to find stuff at any of my local grocery stores that have had enough spice or heat to it to satisfy my cravings. With the exception of the big barrels of pickles at Jungle Jim’s, I have found few sources of spicy pickles worth spending time finding let alone eating. So, my quest for good spicy pickles began recently with some Google-hunting to see what was out there. Many moons ago, we did a post about spicy pickles which I used as my starting point to search. However, those were ones that I didn’t exactly like the look of them right now…so I found two other candidates for my good vs. evil battle of the spicy pickles.

Representing the side of the Galactic Empire are the N.Y. Sour Dill Spicy Pickles hailing from Mel’s Olives out of North Hill, CA. These didn’t have pictures of flames on the side of the jar or get advertised as hotter-than-flaming-charcoal, but they cool fact of the matter is that these come in one-gallon plastic jars. Yep, one GALLON of pickles. Not only is the jar freakin’ huge, but so are the pickles themselves!

As you can see, these pickles are no shorter than six inches and come as whole pickles rather than sliced into lengthwise pieces or as little pickle chips. Despite being unwieldy to try and munch on one without whittling it down to size, there’s always the challenge of trying to snack on one without dousing yourself in pickle juice. (I failed at that, btw.) The taste? Well, admittedly these pickles are better tasting than just about 99% of ones you can buy at any of your local grocery markets. However, these are not as spicy as I had hoped. As the ingredients shown in the picture above say, the “hotness” comes from red pepper flakes, and that is pretty indicative of how it comes across your palate when you try the pickles themselves. With a little peppery tingle but not a lot of heat, these probably rank at about a 2/10 for heat. Impressive for taste, but diehard chileheads will not find their yen for heat satisfied by these. Still, they’re well worth having around in your fridge to much on and are a better deal, price-wise, than most of your pickle choices at the store.

Filling the role of the Rebellion in this interstellar battle are the Hot Habanero Garlic Dill Pickles from Dynamite Dill. Coming in sixteen-ounce jars (which seems so tiny compared to the one-gallon behemoths above), these pickles come in slices like you’d find from bread-and-butter pickles. Since you can’t see the ingredients on these, here they are:

Ingredients: cucumbers, water, vinegar, kosher salt, garlic, spices, sugar, habanero peppers, calcium chloride

You can tell that these are spicier once you open the jar, as the aroma of habanero-infused vinegar wafts through the air almost instantly. The pickles are also smaller overall, but this is one instance where size doesn’t matter.

Now THIS is a spicy pickle. You won’t get that right away, until the lightsaber-effect of the spiciness starts biting into your tongue…and it builds as well. You won’t be feeling it after one bite, or even two, but get about four or five slices into your snacking and the heat will be there in full effect. It’s as pleasantly garlicky as the ones above, but it has some level 8/10 heat that will make you sweat a little. That tilts the battle in favor the challenger from Dynamite Dill in terms of overall spiciness. Not only that, but Dynamite Dill also have Horseradish and Jalapeno dill pickles worth trying as well. Neither of those come close to this in terms of flavor/heat balance, but they are worth keeping around for snacking as well.

Both products are worthy of your dollars spent, and I encourage you to give ‘em both a try and see what you think. Enjoy!