Saskatchewan-made cucumber pickles could be on Co-op shelves this winter following growing trials this summer.
Most of the dill pickles on store shelves are imported from the United States or India, Cara Drury of the provincial ministry of agriculture told the Saskatchewan Irrigation Projects Association conference in Moose Jaw.
The project received $500,000 funding from Federated Co-operatives in a bid to procure more locally grown food sources.
The trials involved comparing six varieties at the Irrigation Crop Development Centre and the Conservation Learning Centre in Prince Albert.
They will look for varieties that yield well and process well. Processing and canning is done at the Prairie Food Centre in Saskatoon.
Currently, the cucumbers are being taste tested before canning.
The 30,000 pounds of cucumbers produced in the trials were all hand picked. The pickles will be sold on Co-op shelves.
Drury said trials also worked on finding an adequate mechanical harvester.
“There’s no way we can pick all those cucumbers manually,” she added.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
