Power to the pickle people

  A tiny Brooklyn kitchen and a nostalgic youth produced the real dill back in 1997.

After a hankering for 70s Vermont summers of pickling cukes with the folks, Rick Field left TV production for the pickle trade and he's been up to his elbows in brine ever since.

In 2001, Rick Field produced the best of show winner, Windy City Wasabeans, a green bean in a soy-wasabi brine, at the Rosendale International Pickle Festival in Upstate New York.

Field sold (and still sells) his diverse Rick's Picks - Smokra, Handy Corn, Spears of Influence, et al. - in the NYC Green Markets and now is rolling out the pickles nationwide at Whole Foods. Last month, Rick's Picks turned five

There's a People's Pickle, the value pickle for these harsh economic times, and a Pickle Club, four phat   jars, four times a year.

We relish the thought.