Making preserves and pickles from varied locally-sourced ingredients has been an integral part of India’s culinary tradition.
Many say that being able to successfully preserve vegetables or fruits is a home cook’s secret weapon. Be it the spicy green chilli pickle that Delhiites love with their morning parathas or the jam with bread that brings back memories of breakfasts before school, households in India have a host of homemade preserves and pickles that are favourites.
Nowadays, relishing a similar taste might prove to be difficult. A few homegrown ventures from Delhi are offering an array of pickles, preserves, chutneys, and more, that are sure to make one’s taste buds travel back in time.
A taste of home
Homemade Love—a family business—is helmed by Diksha Juneja (43), her brother Vanshaj Kapur, their sister and Diksha’s husband as partners. Founded in 2021, this venture provides their clientele with a taste of authentic Punjabi homemade food.
“I make traditional pickles and chutneys that my mother and grandmother used to make.”
Juneja operates from her home kitchen in Dwarka, offering an array of Punjabi pickles and chutneys made from seasonal vegetables. They also make carrot kanji, idli gun powder as well as the classic kaadha.
Where: homemade.love Price: Rs 300-Rs 400 for 250g-400g jars
Curated with love
Operating from her home kitchen in Greater Kailash, Suniti Dhindsa’s (66) venture, Sue’s Homemade Preserves creates a wide range of pickles, chutneys, and jams made from ingredients sourced from Dhindsa’s orchard in Uttarakhand. Sue’s is also known for their unique preserves recipes. Where: sueshomemadepreserves.com
Price: Rs 395 for 200g
A number of options
GK1-resident Saloni Anand’s (34) Not Just Chutney is a homegrown venture in its true sense. It took off when she sold her special momo chutney to three residents of her locality.
Seeing the chutney become a hit among people, Anand decided to experiment with other forms of chutneys, dips, flavoured butter, and more.
Where: Not Just Chutney on Instagram Price: Rs 450 for a pack of four 200g jars
Tradition with a twist
“During festivals like Diwali, instead of buying something from the market as gifts, I would always make small things at home and give it to my friends and family,” says Indu Mathur (50) from West Delhi.
Her venture, The Food Art Factory, which she has been leading full-time since 2016, began with this thought and two products–the tomato and apple chutney. Currently, they have over 50 different kinds of jams, chutneys, and pickles.
These are usually made from traditional handed-down recipes, to which Mathur gives her modern twist. Their wide range features classic Indian pickles such as mango, lemon as well as continental ones. They also offer a number of jams made from fresh seasonal fruits.
Where: thefoodartfactory.com Price: Rs 279-Rs 299 for 200-325g jars