Urban Indigenous community gathers to crown pickling champs
Melissa Olson MPR News
Organizer Cassie Holmes dished up this year's pickle entries using a toothpick. Holmes, a citizen of the Lac Courte Oreilles Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe, is a co-founder of the annual Pickle-Off, a contest at the Four Sisters Farmers Market in south Minneapolis. The contest, which took place on Thursday, Sept. 26, started from the moment each jar popped open.
Holmes, alongside other organizers made trophies, award certificates and t-shirts praising the work of picklers as "kind of a big dill."
The annual friendly competition encourages neighbors to preserve food for the winter months and to promote food sovereignty — the idea that Indigenous people can recreate local healthy food networks. The event was sponsored by the Native American Community Development Institute and the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis.
The contest started as a friendly competition between neighbors. The story goes that an urban farmer at Little Earth of United Tribes claimed to make the best pickles. The challenge was picked up by former Minneapolis Council member Lisa Goodman who claimed she had the best.
Now in its third year, the annual competition is open to everyone.
The contest was also a way to highlight the work of small businesses. Tyra Payer and Paige Hietpas run a small canning business with a punny name " CanIHaveSome ."
"At the end of the day, this is just a life-giving project for us," said Hietpas. "That sometimes makes for some long nights, but I think it's worth it because we get to share food together."
"For us, it's a way to have fun. It's a way to eat healthy delicious foods and share it with loved ones," said Payer, a Turtle Mountain Ojibwe citizen. "It's a way to keep a lot of these traditions going."
The business owners entered two pickles into categories in the contest. The contest rated pickles in the "Dill" and "Special" categories.
Community judges sampled from more than half a dozen entries. The pickles were rated on visual appeal, color, crunch, and taste.
Destiny Jones is a Ho-Chunk citizen. She took home the "Best Pickle" trophy for her "Spicy Dill" recipe.
"I use a lot of fresh herbs... so that includes dill, garlic and fresh peppers. So, it is spicy dill, and I feel like that got me some extra points," said Jones.
Erdrich, a Turtle Mountain Ojibwe citizen, entered again this year and took home the top prize for her bread and butter pickles. She says her winning recipe starts in her garden.
"I grow all my own cucumbers; I have a special way of growing them. So, that they grow vertically," said Erdrich. "If you're living in an urban setting, you can like kind of train them upward."
Jason Garcia was a judge this year and has worked to build local Indigenous food networks. They say the contest encourages people to rebuild their connection with gardening.
"Taking care of their food and taking ownership of what they're putting into their bodies. It's really a full, holistic approach to food sovereignty," said Garcia.
The pickling contest was part of food preservation month at Four Sisters Farmers Market. Many participants learned the art of curing, pickling, freezing, and canning.
