Notable Edibles - Cape Cod Pickle Company

Amina Smaykiewicz loved her job at a day center for adults with developmental disabilities, but she was growing tired of being tied to a daily schedule with no flexibility. Some might say she was in a bit of a pickle, but it turns out pickles were the answer to her problem.

Cape Cod Pickle Company, a business she started with her husband, Chris Kaczmarek, is slowly building a devoted following of repeat customers at farmers’ markets and pop-up markets. “We were on a five-year plan for wholesale, but I think we’re going to get there by next winter,” she said.

Kaczmarek, whose mother taught him to cook when he was a young boy, was originally the driving force in the kitchen. “He’s a great chef and when we moved in together, he had all her recipes,” said Smaykiewicz. When he started making pickles using his mom’s recipes, friends and family loved them, she said. They were his first customers, and then last year the couple sold small batches at a pop-up table at Naukabout Brewery and the Drunken Bee Farm in Mashpee, near their home.

“I brought home-grown flowers, and he would sell pickles alongside me just to see how they sold,” said Smaykiewicz. “He would end up selling out everything, and I would end up giving my bouquets away at the end of the day. So we knew what people wanted. They liked his recipes and the fact that they were fresh refrigerator pickles, which is not something you find everywhere.”

This summer they made the rounds of farmers’ markets from Plymouth to Chatham. “The feedback has been wonderful,” she said. “We’ve got a following now, so we have a lot of people who come back every week to get more pickles.” This fall and winter, they plan to sell at the winter market in Falmouth and may team up with a farmer who comes from Maine to deliver pre-ordered blueberries. They’ll post updates on their Facebook and Instagram pages.

The couple, who married in September 2023, team up to make the pickles at the Cape Cod Culinary Incubator’s commercial kitchen in Hyannis. “We don’t actually need much of a kitchen to do this. It’s a lot of counter space and one burner. When we started, it was just him, but I learned how to make the pickles and I actually enjoy it. I’m not a big fan of cooking, but I don’t mind pickling. I do a lot of the packaging because he’s still working a full-time landscaping job, but he has been helping me on any weekend markets that we do.”

The pickle prep is pretty easy, she said. “You take your cucumbers, you slice ’em with a mandolin, and prepare the brine. We let the brine cool down a little before we put the cukes in. That keeps everything very crunchy. They sit for about a week, just enough time to get the flavoring in, but not enough time to get soggy.” Technically they’re good for three months after that, she said, but she recommends people eat them within a month to have full crispiness.

Their initial product line consisted of three variations: zesty, an original dill, and grandma’s bread and butter. “We kind of spitballed from there,” she said. “We started doing the hot habanero, and now my husband just plays around to make weekly specials. Sometimes it’s pickled carrots, sometimes it’s spicy bread and butter pickles. He’s the creative genius, as far as that goes. We took his grandma’s classic bread and butter and then added some habanero and other seasonings to give it a kick. Then we took the original dill recipe and found a way to make it spicy and then really hot. It seems like there’s a hot pickle movement going on right about now.”

The original garlic dill (“the OG,” as Smaykiewicz calls it) is the most popular item. “People are unsure sometimes about trying the spice, but the zesty with a red hot chili pepper flake in it is a very close second, and there’s a huge market for bread and butter right now, which is your sweet pickle.” The surprise flavor for her is the half sour, which is made with a salt-water brine, and has less bite than pickles made with a vinegar brine. “It’s more light and refreshing,” she said.

Naming the business was an easy decision, Smaykiewicz said. “We’re from Cape Cod and we wanted to show the Cape some love and represent our little peninsula here.” Having the brand recognition doesn’t hurt, she added. “Everyone loves Cape Cod stuff.”

Cape Cod Pickle Company
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