Indiana Pickles: Sechler's

In 1914, Ralph Sechler ran a pickle station in St. Joe, Indiana for the D. M. Sears Company. He delivered "brine stock" (freshly picked cucumbers in salt brine) by horse-drawn wagon to a railroad siding to be shipped to Sears in Ft. Wayne.

By the early '30s Ralph was selling pickles and relish in bulk in wooden kegs and barrels. Jars for consumer sales were hand-packed by Ralph's wife Anne in her kitchen, often with the help of some neighbor ladies. In 1930 the business grew out of the house. The barn was converted into a factory.

Sechler's first product available to the consumer was Genuine Dill Pickles (which is still available from Sechler's today as Genuine "Aged in Wood" Dill Pickles.) Sweet relish and sweet pickles soon followed. Sweet pickles became a Sechler specialty. Candied Sweet Orange Strip Pickles were added in 1940, being a Sechler's favorite ever since. Pasteurized "Fresh Pack" pickles were introduced to the Sechler's line in 1958.

Today Sechler offers 45 products, many of them unique.

After 75 years Sechler's is still family owned and run. While new processes and procedures are introduced, they have resisted change that might in any way detract from the quality of the pickles.

While most pickle companies emphasize fresh-pack pickles, the majority of Sechler's are still tank-cured.

Many things at Sechler's have changed with the times, but only if they improved the pickles. As they like to say "we could make them faster, but that wouldn't make them better."