By Shelby Shank
Field Editor

Big jars, crunchy bites and a salty-sour kick—Texas students learned about pickles through Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) Farm From School program.

Kindergarten through fifth-grade students across Texas virtually “meet” with a farmer or rancher once a month through Farm From School on a video conferencing app.

In March, Stephen Goetz, vice president of Agriculture for Best Maid, taught the students about the journey of pickles from farm to jar.

“The visit gave students a firsthand look at how pickles are jarred,” said Jordan Bartels, TFB associate director Organization Division, Education Outreach. “They learned how cucumbers are grown, harvested and jarred, making the farm to table connection in an engaging way.”

During the 30-minute virtual session, Goetz walked students through the entire process, beginning with cucumbers being planted in West Texas.

“We start planting cucumbers at the end of May and harvest mid-July,” he said. “Cucumbers are about a 45-day crop from the time we plant to when we harvest.”

Students learned cucumber plants bloom flowers, which require pollination by bees. Once pollinated, the flowers develop into cucumbers that are harvested and transported to Best Maid’s processing plant in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

“At the plant, cucumbers enter the fermentation process, where they develop their signature flavor,” Goetz said. “As the cucumbers come out of the fermentation process, they have about a 10-15% salt content, and we want to bring that down to 3-5% before we slice them and put them in the jars.”

The pickles are then chopped, shaken onto a vibrating table and funneled into jars. The final step involved adding the brine, a mix of vinegar, dill flavoring, salt, and sometimes sugar, before sealing the jars.

“Depending on the flavor of the pickle, whether it’s a spicy pickle or a dill pickle, what makes that flavor is the juice that we put on there,” Goetz explained. “The difference between pickle juice and brine is that the brine going into the jars is twice as strong. Over time, the cucumbers absorb some of that, so the juice you taste in a jar of pickles is half as strong as what we originally put in.”

The company processes nearly 55,000 pounds of cucumbers each year.

Most of Best Maid’s pickles remain in Texas but can also be found in Oklahoma and surrounding states, either in grocery stores or served in restaurants.

“I love that every day is different,” Goetz said. “From being in the field to working with people, there’s so much variety in what we do that it’s always interesting and challenging, but always fun.”

Spring sessions
The remaining spring sessions will focus on crawfish and ice cream.

Last month, students learned about composting.

More information
The popular program will be back again in the fall. Sign up for the fall 2025 program will open later this summer.

Click here for more information about the Farm From School program.

Visit texasfarmbureau.org/aitc for more information and the latest announcements on TFB’s Ag in the Classroom activities.