Green Chilli Pickle – Hari Mirch Achar

Green chillies, cold-pressed mustard oil, mustard seeds, cumin, ajwain, coriander paste, bay leaves, fennel seeds, salt, and our home spice blend.

What is not in it

• No vinegar or acetic acid
• No chemical preservatives
• No artificial colour or flavouring
• No palm oil — mustard oil only

Allergen note

Contains mustard. Prepared in a kitchen that also handles sesame and nuts. Suitable for vegetarians.

What you will taste

Milder on contact than the look of it suggests. The mustard oil and the spices land first, aromatic and sharp. The heat builds over the next few seconds and then settles into a warm finish rather than a burn that keeps climbing.

Heat level

The hottest thing we make — and still a build rather than a shock. If you enjoy a green chilli alongside your meal, this is comfortably within range.

Texture

Small chilli pieces, still with snap, glossy with oil and flecked with mustard and cumin seed.

Choosing chillies

Picked for aroma as well as heat, and used fresh. A chilli that smells of nothing makes a pickle that tastes of nothing but heat.

Cutting and drying

Cut into small pieces and dried off completely. Any surface water left on a chilli will spoil the jar within a fortnight.

Oil and tempering

Mustard oil heated to smoking point then cooled, so its bite mellows. Mustard seed, cumin, fennel and ajwain go in, then the chilli.

Resting

A few days of sitting while the oil carries the spice into the chilli. Fresh from mixing this tastes raw and one-note; rested, it develops the aroma that makes it worth keeping on the table.

Everyday

Dal and rice, khichdi, paratha. A small spoon on the side of a simple home meal is what this is built for.

Other ways

• With a plain omelette or scrambled eggs
• Alongside curd rice, where the cool and the heat balance
• Chopped into a sandwich or a wrap
• With poha or upma at breakfast

Half a teaspoon to start. You can always add more, and with this one people usually do.

Keeping it fresh

• Always use a clean, dry spoon. Water is what spoils a pickle, not time.
• Keep the layer of oil sitting above the pickle — it is the seal that preserves it.
• Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Refrigerate after opening.
• Never store or serve pickle in aluminium, brass or iron. The salt and acid react with the metal. Glass, ceramic or food-grade plastic only.

Shelf life

Best within 9 months of the packing date unopened, and about 6 months once opened and refrigerated. The date is printed on the jar.

Travelling with it

Pickle is fine in checked baggage on Indian domestic flights. Cabin baggage falls under liquid and paste limits, so put the jar in your check-in bag and wrap it — and check your airline if you are flying international, as some countries restrict food imports.

Available in 200 g and 500 g glass jars. Chilli pickle is used a little at a time, so the 200 g lasts most households a good while — but the 500 g is the better value if it lives on your table.

Every jar is sealed, wrapped and cushioned before it ships, because Indian courier handling is not gentle. If one arrives broken or leaking, send us a photograph within 48 hours and we will replace it.

The Flavor Chapter is a small homemade pickle business run out of a kitchen in Kolkata, West Bengal. We make Bengali achar the way it has always been made at home — seasonal fruit bought locally, cold-pressed mustard oil, a spice blend handed down rather than bought in, and enough resting time for the two to meet.

We are not a factory. Every batch is made by hand in quantities small enough for one person to watch over the whole thing, which limits how much we can sell and is why some jars disappear for months at a time. Kul and chalta are winter fruit, so we make them in winter.

What we will not do: no chemical preservatives, no vinegar shortcuts, no artificial colour. A properly made pickle preserves itself in oil, salt and sugar — it does not need help from a laboratory.

Every order is sealed, double-wrapped and packed by hand before it ships across India. If a jar arrives broken, we replace it.