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Traditional Pickles – a lost art

16 Mar

I remember my paati (grandmother) bringing a small earthen jar full of tasty chunky pickles. Walking from her home to her daughter’s (my mom’s) place just before noon, she would make sure we could taste the spicy stuff for lunch. Though lime and mango are the usual ones, I would wait for the seasonal ones like makaliberu, usually mixed with ginger. It is said that the fragrance of this plant is so strong that it attracts snakes.
Another kind of seasonal variety that I loved were paati’s Nellikai Urugai – mmm.. those heavenly pickles in the typical earthen jars must have somehow inflenced my fondness for spicy food. These days we dont have time or inclination for cutting, marinating and storing the pickles. Simply pick up a bottle of Priya’s or some other brand and store them in the fridge. I sometimes imagine Priya’s manufacturing place having thousands of earthen jars full of makaliberu or nellikai or avakai ready to be shipped! Nostalgia does strange things to one’s mind.

 
3 Comments

Posted by on March 16, 2009 in cuisine, india

 

Tags: ,

3 Responses to Traditional Pickles – a lost art

  1. SloganMurugan

    March 16, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    :) The brands do a pretty decent job luckily. But nothing comes close to the ones we tasted as children.

     
  2. citygurl

    March 16, 2009 at 3:31 pm

    Anything made in mass scale will have a dip in quality and it can never beat the nostalgia factor:)

     
  3. Ob-Guy'n

    March 17, 2009 at 3:47 am

    Home made pickles = Tender Loving Care = Emotions > Profit

    Commercial Pickles = More Salt = more Hypertension ( BP ) = Doctor's Visits = tablets + dietary restrictions = more cravings = more pickle buying = loyal customers

    :)

    Nostalgia schmostalgia. Priya is the only "home-made" pickle most of our gen has ever known !!

     

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