Good news for fans of the Spreewald-pickle: the current weather conditions - warm temperatures and rain - are especially good for this type of vegetable. In the German Spreewald, the 'Gurkenflieger' is already hard at work. These harvesters, pulled by tractors, are driven slowly through the field while the seasonal workers gather the vegetables into the wide loading area.
At the moment, the small canning pickles are being harvested over an area of approximately 700 hectares every three days. "Such large quantities can only be collected from the fields with harvesting machines," says Jörg Lübcke from the State Office for Consumer Protection and Agriculture in Großbeeren. Thanks to the help of these machines; drip irrigation, dosed fertilisation and the use of special varieties, pickle production has notably intensified in the last few years. During the time of the DDR an average of 20 tons of pickles were harvested in Spreewald. In recent years, growers have been getting around 36,200 tons of pickles from the fields.
The characteristic flavour of the Spreewald-pickle has been achieved thanks to processing according to a special recipe. This creates acidic, salty and spicy pickles. Brandenburg, the federal state where Spreewald is located, is one of the largest pickle producers. Only Bavaria produces more pickles annually.