A Balliol Street mom who trained at Tulane University for a career in public health has decided to become a pickling entrepreneur instead — and she loves it. From reports (and personal tasting) Dina Rock’s Mighty Fine Brine pickles set a new standard in old-fashioned Jewish dill pickles. Rock grew up on Long Island and later moved to Manhattan where one grandfather owned a delicatessen. The other granddad had a butcher shop in Brooklyn. When public health didn’t seem to be quite right for her, Dina, wife of Re/Max Hallmark Brokerage agent Jess Martenfeld, dug into her roots and came up with her grandfather’s dill pickle recipe. Thus was born in the Spring of 2015 the Mighty Fine Brine pickle line with Dina’s Classic New York cukes leading the way from her rented commercial kitchen in Etobicoke.
WHERE TO BUY
Mighty Fine dills were first offered at the Appletree Markets weekly market in June Rowlands (Davisville) Park. Their popularity quickly began to build an in-store clientel. Locally Mighty Fine Brine products are sold at Andy Elder’s Grill Time on Laird Drive, but they are also fighting their way onto shelves at places like Whole Foods (Leaside) and Summerhill Market (Sherwood Park) on Mt. Pleasant Rd. Rock’s enthusiasm for her work commits her to busy days on the phone and email finding new clients. Her two children, a boy 5 and a girl 8, need a mom too. They don’t seem to mind that she comes in the guise of Fine Brine’s “Chief Pickling Officer.” It is the kind of whimsy that only your own business will permit. We will visit Dina Rock again when Ontario’s brief pickling season hits again in August.
