All About Achaar - The Story of the Humble Indian Pickle
No summer holidays at Grandma's home were complete without those big white ceramic jars sitting out in the sun on the terrace, filled to the brim with mouthwatering pickles. That excitement of helping mom and grandma in the kitchen, the careful preparation of the ingredients, the addition of assorted spices, chatpata masalas and aromatic oils; our childhoods are instantly revisited every time we taste even one spoonful of the humble "achaar". Pickles have been an integral part of the Indian food culture for centuries and are known by different names across India; Loncha in Marathi, Achaar in Hindi, Athanu in Gujarati, Urukai in Tamil, etc. The earliest known record of pickling dates back to BCE 2030 in the Tigris Valley, which was made by preserving cucumbers in brine. The word pickle is derived from the Dutch word "pekel" which means brine. Its Indian counterpart "achaar" however, has its roots in the Persian term which means "powdered...