Pickling is a delightful, vibrant craft
Let’s revive our artisanal food culture; it’s part of our heritage
Sweet and sour, pungent, zesty, or salty, pickles have been a part of our culinary tradition since time immemorial.
The reason could have been mainly preservation of perishable food items owing to the harsh climatic conditions. But they make for a delightful, vibrant addition to our meals.
We are living in an online era, where most goods are delivered to our doorstep on a press of a button which unfortunately has taken away from us the artisanal cooking of our grandmothers or mothers.
I distinctly remember strings of drying turnips, carrots and cauliflower on the terrace for making one of my favourite mixed vegetable pickle, which my grandmom would make in winters.
I also remember the pieces of raw mango drying over muslin cloth in the garden for making the mango pickle in summer which the entire family would enjoy with freshly baked tandoori roti and home made white butter and chhaj (butter milk garnished with fresh mint from the garden ).
The urban millennial are oblivious to such nostalgia as they have seen only nicely packed food items arranged in beautifully labelled mason jar bottle or fancy tetra packs, delivered straight from state of art factories.
But, unfortunately the soul of the food is missing in such retail items.
I am an advocate of home artisanal cooking, be it be churning butter milk or making humble pickles.
This is what I consider food with a soul. This is what we need to preserve and revive.