KOCHI: Achaar or pickle has a special place in every Malayali’s heart. One of the first things to land on the banana leaf during sadya is a freshly-chopped mango pickle. A must-have with Thalassery dum biriyani? Lime pickle. Dining tables in every Malayali household has a place for at least a couple of them. Having grown up in one, my undying love for pickles met with a roadblock when I moved out of my mother’s place. Because mothers do make them best.
The pickle bottles you buy at the supermarket doesn’t cut. That is why, when I discovered Delicacies on Point (DOP) foods on Instagram and saw their custom-made line of pickles, I decided to give it a go. Prawns, dates, fish, lemon dates - all the classic flavours of Kerala’s pickle galore come freshly made and packed from this homegrown venture.
When Shefar K Salam returned to his hometown near Nettoor from Kuwait last year owing to Covid, he wanted to start something of his own. That is how the idea to start DOP foods with his mother as the tastemaker came in. “I realised the mass-produced pickle bottles aren’t nearly as good as the ones I have at home. We thought it would be a great idea to give people a quality product at an affordable price,” he says.
The dates and prawn pickles are our top picks. Making dates pickles taste good is a delicate process. Many times, the sweet-spicy combo just doesn’t balance right. But DOP’s dates pickle checks all the boxes. Prawn pickle is irresistible in taste and freshness — you can finish a whole bottle in a sitting!
Authentic taste
What makes their brand stand out is the quality of ingredients used. The chilli powder is locally sourced from mills. Shefar wakes up at 5am to auction fresh fish in Alappuzha or Aroor. “The backwater prawns are best for pickles. The quality of fish and raw materials used keeps the pickle tasty even with a long shelf-life. Every bottle at DOP foods is made like it would be in any home, with utmost care. Even the oil is locally sourced,” says Shefar. The pickle flavours also go for a test run to family and friends before it is released. “That is how we know what is good and what is not. Only the best goes out for sale,” he adds. Hygiene and safety is also a concern, he adds, talking about the time they chose to discard a whole batch because one of the bottles caught some mould.
Homegrown success
With the brand slowly flourishing, Shefar and his mother are also giving back to the community. “We have employed three women from financially less privileged families to help with the production now,” says Shefar. Prawns are hard to clean, it’s a lengthy process that needs several hands on the deck. “Days like those, we can always use the extra hands and they can use the extra income. For now, we make only limited batches for pre-booked customers. As the business grows, we hope to include more women from our area in the brand,” he adds.
Pan-India delivery
Place your orders: dopfoods on Instagram