Frequently Asked Questions From Our Customers

You’ll find the “Best By Date” stamped on the shoulder of the jar, on the glass itself, near where it curves into the lid. Just above this is a production code.

By the way, we have a 24-month date on our cut products, and a 30-month date on everything else. Because of the way we make our pickles, they do not spoil over time. They may just get a little darker in color and soften up. If you have a jar past its “Best By Date” there’s no harm in trying it for taste and texture. If it still tastes fine, enjoy!

Button Caps
Most Mt. Olive products feature safety button caps. This means you should encounter reasonable resistance when turning the lid and hear an audible “pop” when you first open your jar. The button caps are marked with the words “Do not purchase if safety button is up.”

Tamper-Evident Band
Some of our products do not use button caps. These include our spear and sandwich stuffer items, and our pepper items. Some, but not all, spear and stuffer items have a tamper-evident band – a clear plastic ring around the jar top.

Vacuum-Seal
All of our spear, sandwich stuffer and pepper items are vacuum-sealed and should be reasonably difficult to open for the first time. You should also hear either a “pop” or a “whoosh” of air when you first open the jar.

We recommend that you refrigerate our products after opening to enhance flavor and freshness.

Pickles and pickled peppers won’t spoil or otherwise pose a health threat even if left unrefrigerated for a period of time. If the juice should turn cloudy or milky, the pickles are fermenting. At that point the flavor and texture will be off, so discard.

Some of our items are indeed fermented – our relishes and salad cubes, sweet, sour, and dill pickles, and our picklePAK single-serve cup items.

This does not make these items probiotic, however, as we pasteurize all of our products. Pasteurization eliminates all bacteria in the jar, bad and good alike.

Generally, the word “kosher” references the fact that garlic flavoring has been added –e.g., our Mt. Olive Kosher Dills, Kosher Dill Spears, and Kosher Baby Dills all contain garlic.

The word “kosher” also has a connotation of being religiously clean. Nearly all of Mt. Olive’s products are certified as kosher by the Orthodox Union and bear the OU symbol on the label. The lone exception is our 16 oz. Sweet Mixed item.

If you open a jar of pickles and it appears that someone has taken a “bite” out of one, don’t worry. Your pickle is damaged, not bitten. Our machines can sometimes damage pickles in a way that looks just like they’ve been bitten, tooth marks and all.