When it comes to a perfect pickle, what comes to your mind? Is it the slick, strongly flavoured one that comes with your sandwich at the local deli? Or maybe the bright, firm dill pickle you’ve stowed away in your fridge? Regardless of your liking, there are key qualities that set apart an irresistible pickle from an unimpressive one.

“An excellent dill pickle offers a definite and resounding crunch; a zest that tempts your salivary gland; bursts with a pungent, briny fragrance; and leverages the right quantity of salt to balance the acidity,” explains April McGreger, renowned food conservation and fermentation specialist. As per her, top-notch pickles are neither limp or mushy, hollow or overly capricious, and certainly, not low in salt, which may result in them tasting overly vinegary and lacking the crispness of traditionally higher salt pickles.

Equipped with McGreger’s advice, we took up the task of tasting 12 much-loved brands of dill pickles. For the unitiated, a dill pickle is typically a cucumber pickled with dill and garlic being included in the brine if the jar is labelled "kosher", a fact clarified by Emily Paster, author of 'The Joys of Jewish Preserving'.

Our taste test involved insiders going for spear-shaped dill pickles, which is the standard shape. Restrictions were set in place to exclude pickles with additive spices or flavourings outside the typical attributes of dill pickles, like extra spice or sugar. The pickles were tasted blind, weighed on flavor and texture, and rated for aspects such as saltiness, brininess, strength of flavours like dill and garlic, and the crunchiness of the pickle.

As a result, the selections from Whole Foods Market, Kraft Heinz, Grillo's Pickles, Vlasic Pickles and Good & Gather earned the top spots. They emerged as having the best diurnal snackability (Claussen), the most DIY feel (Grillo’s Pickles), best sandwich-shop style (Vlasic Pickles), greatest versatility (Good & Gather) and most fridge-case favourite (Whole Foods). These pickles were appreciated not only for the taste and texture but also for their suitability in various dishes and cocktails.