The practice of preserving food played a crucial role in shaping modern civilization, enabling our ancestors to travel and migrate long distances. Taking their food with them as they journeyed to explore unknown places, with the confidence that in case they could find no fresh food, their portable provisions meant they would not starve.
Preserving food does not just extend its durability, it also changes the texture and taste of food, sometimes in revolting ways, but giving birth to some prized delicacies around the world. Preserving methods created interesting new kinds of food that entered traditional meals of different cultures — succulent smoked hams, spicy dried sausages, sweet cured bacon and chewy dried fruit that seem to taste of sunshine.
Preserving food involves different methods such as drying, freezing, fermenting, pickling, dry salting, canning and converting to jams and jellies. Across the world, different cultures utilize these methods in various forms. For example, the ancient art of curing meat and creating delectable salami is one of the most prized Italian family dining experiences. The whole process from meat selection, mincing, mixing, filling, curing and finally enjoying the end product is highly satisfying. During the Middle Ages, Gravlax was made by fishermen from Nordic countries, who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. Today fermentation is no longer used in the production process. Instead the salmon is “buried” in a dry marinade of salt, sugar, and dill, and cured for a few days.
Various species of fish are sundried all along the coastal regions of various countries including India, and storage timeline of these dried fishes varies from several months to years based on species. Whichever part of India you might hail from, pickles are likely a part of your earliest food memories — to elevate the experience of having the sacred combination of dal and rice; as a counterpoint to the cold comfort of curd rice, or as a tasty accompaniment capable of weathering long train journeys.
Pickling techniques and the finished product vary vastly from region to region — Gujarat’s sweet chhunda mango pickle has so little in common with the hot avakaya pickle from Andhra Pradesh — it’s hard to believe that they are made of the same fruit! At the elemental level, no matter what gulfs separate the culinary customs of this country, pickles act as a bridge between them.
