What you need to know: These are absolutely my favorite pickles ever! They taste delicious and I used to go out of my way to buy them weekly from her stand at the Phoenix Public Market. She told me when I first purchased that she doesn't grow her own cucumbers for pickling, and that she gets them elsewhere. I assumed she meant a local farmer. The label for Belinda's Pickles lists very basic ingredients like sugar and water, etc.
However, one weekend I missed the market, so I googled her to try to find contact info to arrange a pick-up. In my search I came across an article that said that when she was interviewed she told the writer that she buys whatever pickles she can find on sale at Costco, then re-pickles them at home and sells them at the market. This is a concern because in our daily diet I try to really limit the artificial colors and preservatives our family consumes - there are a lot of yummy pickles we can't buy for this reason.
When I called Belinda to ask about it she said it was true, and didn't know the ingredients of the original pickles. Once she found the jar they turned out to be a Vlasic-type brand, and the original pickle jar listed multiple artificial colors and preservatives.
I would love to go back to buying Belinda's delicious pickles when she starts pickling her own cucumbers as long as her ingredients list stays as simple as her label says it is.