PROCESSED FOOD
P ckled
Y
Pleasures
ou can find pickles for the diet conscious, oil-free kind; pickles full of vitamins with mineral rich ingredients. There are also pickles made using just the rind of certain citrus fruits tossed in chilli or ground aromatic spices. Aristotle praised the curative powers of pickled cucumbers and Napoleon fed his army on them. Certain fruits like lemons and others (rich in vitamins) were preserved and fed to sailors to prevent scurvy and other ailments on long voyages. With the passage of millennia, pickled pleasures are still attracting varied palates. Sweet, hot, spicy, tangy, whichever way you may describe your pickles, it is likely that they would have one common factor — they would be delicious. It is a side dish which adds flavour to the main dishes. There are a wide variety of pickles, encompassing almost every vegetable, fruit, meat, fish we know being used as a primary ingredient.
28
Pickle making in India is a national past-time and constitutes women of our past generations’ integral part of culinary achievements. Even today in the hustle and bustle of cities, you can find many a lady of the house priding herself on serving ‘homemade pickles.’ Some pickles age like wine and mature after a while and can be preserved for years. The use of certain spices like ginger, asafoetida, turmeric and saunf (cumin) in pickles facilitate digestion. Certain spices like clove, cinnamon and ginger are used for their warming properties. Cumin and cardamom are used in pickles as cooling spices. The variety of ingredients in pickles is seemingly endless. You name the ingredient and chances are it is being used in a pickle. But there are hot favourites. In India, there are the universal lime, mango and chilli pickle, and the temptingly sweet mango chunda to name a few.
Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review
Indian Achar
Indian pickles are as diverse as the country itself, with each state and community having its special recipes descended from generation to generation. The most common variety of course is the ‘mango pickle, followed by lime pickle, chili pickle, etc. as they grow more or less all over the country. Almost all vegetables and raw fruits can be pickled. Pickling is the best way to ensure the preservation of vegetables and fruits that are over abundant in their harvest season and unavailable for the rest of the year. Usually, no chemical preservative or artificial food colour is being used in pickles and preservation is maintained by the use of common salt, spices and tempered vegetable oil, which makes the pickle a healthier food option than other preserves such as jams and jellies. Some pickles like the whole lemon pickle
June-July ’21
