Mickle's Pickles has a new owner but keeps same recipe after decades of production

If Peter Piper picked a place to pick a peck of pickles, would he pick up a pack pickled in Purvis?

If he has a penchant for pickles, the answer would be yes.

Mickle's Pickles have made their way onto shelves at mom-and-pop shops and locally owned grocery and convenience stores in south Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana for more than two decades. They've continued to grow in popularity as more and more people discover them.

Mickle's founder started small and local

Picayune schoolteacher and Mickle's Pickles founder Michael Fluitt started making pickles when he was a college student and sold them to pay for college and support himself through school. He peddled the pickles in his spare time and kept the pickle business going during his teaching years with help from his wife, Pam, also a teacher.

"Keith and I decided to carry the pickles in our store and we created the Mississippi Made section in all of our superstores," said Melissa Saucier, who with her husband, Keith Saucier, owns Keith's Superstores.

The Mississippi Made section includes not only the pickles, but also other Mississippi products such as The Shed barbecue sauce, Odom's jams and jellies, honey by Ed's Backyard Bees, Grin coffee and more.

In addition to having local customers, some jars made their way throughout the nation to friends and family or were brought home by visitors to the state and demand grew for mail orders of the prized product.

"It was just too much for him," Saucier said. "Mickey was very laid back. He lived a simple life. He was very happy. He wasn't interested in getting bigger — he was just very complacent, so he said, 'I'm just not going to ship anymore.'"

That was about 10 years ago. Since she already had a working relationship with Fluitt, Saucier volunteered to take over the shipping of the pickles, but she had a motive.

"His customers started calling our stores and wanting us to ship the pickles," Saucier said. "The customers were calling me and, you know, complaining to me and yelling at me, fussing at me because nobody was shipping pickles. So I got his permission."

Every pickle tells a story

Fluitt's original pickles remain popular among pickle fans, and other flavors have been added throughout the years that are equally popular. Customers have made requests for other products, but Fluitt stuck with what he did best.

He kept up with production as best he could, but demand for the pickles continued to grow, so about three years ago, Fluitt began talking about selling the business.

"He started talking to me about selling out, and he would only sell out to another family," Saucier said. "To another family that loves the pickles as much as he did. It would have to be somebody that would come in and care about the recipes and the product as much as he did."

Saucier convinced Fluitt the right person was her. After some hesitation and about two years of thinking, Fluitt agreed, and Saucier became the new owner of Mickle's Pickles.

His wife retired from teaching so he thought it was a good time to retire from pickling.

"I assured him that I loved the product just as much as he did," she said. "But it wasn't the pickles that I loved. What I discovered is, it was the people, the customers. Every time a customer called to order pickles, they wanted to tell me their story. Most of the time they would have a mouthful of that last jar of pickles in their mouth while they were telling me about their cousins' uncle twice removed, you know, or their aunt brought them a jar back from a festival or they visited a relative over the holidays and that's how they discovered the pickles.

"Or they went to a wedding and that was the gift that was given out to all in the wedding party. Everybody has a story about Mickle's Pickles."

Original recipes are still the same

One of the caveats Fluitt insisted on before he would sell the business to Saucier was a guarantee she would not change the recipes for the pickles. Saucier readily agreed.

For those who don't know, Mickle's comes in six flavors: Original, Black Peppa, Black Peppa X (hot), Craw Pickle, Not Hot Jalapeno and Ghost Pickle.

The pickles are not made in Picayune any more. They are now made in Purvis and a larger production facility in Hattiesburg is in the works.

Although the pickles remain the same, Saucier added a new product to the family. Fans who for years begged Fluitt for relish can now buy it in the store instead of chopping up the pickle chips at home.

Peter Piper will soon have pickled peppers to pick

Saucier learned from Mickle's longtime customers that he also made a pickled pepper that he gave to special customers. It wasn't part of his pickle passel. It was just a treat.

"He tried to tell me that he didn't know what I was talking about, but people kept calling me and asking me for 'just peppers,'" Saucier said. "One time a customer said I'm going to send you a picture of it. And so they sent me a picture and I sent Mickey the picture.

"I said, 'You've been telling me a story. You were giving people a jar of what you call 'just peppers' and I said, here's a picture of it. And he said, 'OK, Melissa. I had a special recipe that I did for special customers. I never followed through with making the label and getting the lab work done to make it official.'"

She persuaded Fluitt to give her his secret pepper recipe, and she got the lab work and label finished, so now all of Mickle's fans can enjoy them — as soon as Saucier can get them into area stores, which should be any day now.

"Now for all of these people that were fussing at me, I can make them happy and provide Just Peppers for them," Saucier said.

Pucker up for this health benefit

One other new product Saucier added was single shots of pickle juice since many people are drinking it to ease the pain of cramps or to recover faster after a workout. There are a number of other health benefits, according to pickle juice fans and some nutrition experts.

The Real Dill pickle juice is available in 2- and 4-ounce shots and soon will be available in other sizes up to a gallon.

"Pickle juice is a big thing," Saucier said. In addition to helping relieve cramp pain, "It's very good for migraines. It's good for heart patients. For circulation. I play tennis and that's the first thing that they hand out at the tennis courts is the pickle juice."

Mickle's Pickle from A Beautiful Friendship on Vimeo.

The day Mickle lost his pickle

Some people may not have tried Mickle's Pickles, but they may know the story of the giant pickle that went missing from Fluitt's home. There was even a documentary made about the missing pickle that debuted at the 2012 Oxford Film Festival.

Fluitt had a giant plastic pickle hanging under the sign of his shot in Picayune. One day, the pickle was gone. Pam Fluitt filed a police report with an officer who couldn't stop laughing. The local newspaper reported the news and "Wanted" posters were put up around town in hopes of someone recognizing the pickle and helping it get back to its owner.

Other media outlets picked up the story and before long, people around the country were calling to ask if the pickle had been found.

Eventually the pickle was returned and restored to its post outside the storefront. Who actually pilfered the pickle remains a mystery. Or at least that's what those in the know want us to believe.

Mississippi is a pickle paradise

Whether Mickle's Pickles are loved because of the stories connected with them or because they just taste good, pickle lovers around the country know Mississippi is the place to satisfy that craving.

Pickles ranks up there with other well-known Mississippi icons including the birthplace of American music; its notable authors like William Faulkner and Eudora Welty and artists like Marie Hull, Dusti Bonge and Walter Anderson; and its spectacular scenery from the northern Delta and Hill Country regions to the piney woods and coastal wetlands in the south.

In addition to Mickle's Pickles, did you know that Mississippians claim deep-fried dill pickles and Kool-Aid pickles originated in the state? Yeah. It's true. Or at least that's what some people say is true.

The deep-fried dills allegedly originated at the Hollywood Cafe in Robinsonville. Who are we to dispute that claim?

And Southern Living magazine says the Kool-Aid pickles' roots are in the Mississippi Delta and has been known by other names like Koolickle and Pickoola.

So whatever you purport is your passion for pickles, you can find it right here in the state of Mississippi.

To learn more

Mickle's Pickles may be found in small, locally owned grocery and convenience stores in Mississippi and Louisiana.

The pickles also may be purchased online at mississippimadeandmore.com.

Keep up with Mickle's Pickles events and more on Facebook at facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087494071999.

What are your best pickle memories? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Mickle's Pickles new owner keeps same flavors in Mississippi