Pickling has been around for thousands of years dating as far back as 2030 B.C., when cucumbers were pickled in the Tigris Valley of the Mideast.

In the Port Haywood area of Mathews, there is a family, stretching back three generations, who make pickles from their own gardens and friends’ gardens.

Janice Diggs Hudgins at age 92 just made her annual batch of pickles, a tradition she learned from her mother, Melba Hudgins Diggs. According to a family member “she was the beginner of the best pickles in the world.”

These pickles were always present in her home at special occasions, especially Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and family dinings. “Visiting Amish country and buying a jar of their pickles, they are delicious, but nothing to compare to the love, work and memories that go into our jars.”

When Miss Melba passed on, Janice with her mother’s recipe carried on the tradition; and her daughter Nancy Rowe (featured in this column August 1994) is continuing the tradition, ho...