The Pickle Relish Brand With The Absolute Worst Flavor

Pickle relish is an underutilized condiment in comparison to mustard and ketchup. It puts the finishing touches on Chicago-style hot dogs and makes a tantalizingly tangy pairing with grilled cheese sandwiches. What makes relish so great is that it packs a flavor punch and has a perfect balance between sweet and sourness.

There are lots of pickle relishes out there, but not all of them are satisfying. In fact, we ranked eight major store-bought pickle relishes to see what was what, and Cains Sweet Pickle Relish came out bottom. Our reviewer found the taste overwhelmingly sweet with a flavor that they found plain odd. The second highest ingredient listed (after cucumbers) is high fructose corn syrup, so maybe that excessive sweetness shouldn't be a surpirse. Over on Amazon reviews, one person thought the texture was way too liquidy, and that the company had changed the recipe, pleading, "Bring back the old recipe."

What is most interesting is that several years ago, reviews for Cains Sweet Pickle Relish were much better. Many praised the relish for its great taste and for not being overly sweet. However, some customers have noticed a difference in taste and texture in the past year. A few suspected a switch in either the ingredients list or type of cucumbers. But despite these complaints, Cains has not released a statement regarding the ingredients in this product.

Not only are customers now finding Cains Sweet Pickle Relish too sweet, but our reviewer thought it tastes weirdly of baking spices, like cinnamon (the ingredients list merely refers to "natural spice flavors"). Even those that do enjoy the taste have complained that the size of the relish jars is not proportionate to the price tag. It also does not help that there are a few reports of the relish jars containing more liquid than actual relish.

Another issue with this pickle relish is the availability of the product itself. There are some fans of the sweet condiment, and they have mentioned on Amazon that it can be hard to find in certain areas, particularly in southern parts of the United States. Although customers have praised online sites for carrying the product, there are multiple complaints about the relish arriving in cracked or completely broken jars.

Maybe the lack of careful handling would be more acceptable if customers could at least get a refund or credit for the issues with the product. However, one Cains Sweet Pickle Relish buyer was disappointed that the purchase didn't offer returns to dissatisfied customers. When combined with the high price, strange overly sweet baking-spices flavor, and apparent change in recipe, we think this relish is best left on the grocery-store shelf.