A home kitchen in Kolkata
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, cold-pressed mustard oil, a spice blend handed down rather than bought in, and enough time for the two to meet.
- Based in
- Kolkata, West Bengal
- We make
- Bengali achar, 8 jars
- Licence
- FSSAI, fruit and veg pickles
- Delivery
- Anywhere in India
- Talk to us
- +91 81000 61597
Not a factory, and we do not pretend to be
Every batch is made by hand, in quantities small enough that one person can watch over the whole thing. That limits how much we can sell, and it is the reason some jars disappear for months at a time.
The people who sort the fruit are the people who cook it, fill the jars and pack your box. When you write to us, they are also the people who reply.
How it started →
What we will not do
Four lines we do not cross, whatever it costs us in speed.
No chemical preservatives
A properly made pickle preserves itself in oil and salt. It does not need help from a laboratory.
No vinegar shortcuts
Vinegar makes pickle fast. Sun drying and resting make it good.
No artificial colour
Our mango pickle is the colour mango actually is.
No year-round fakery
Kul and amla are winter fruit. We make them in winter.
How we make it
Three steps, none of which can be hurried.
01Seasonal sourcing
Fruit and vegetables are bought locally, in season, from people we buy from every year. Mango in early summer, kul and amla in winter, garlic and chilli through the year.
02Sun drying
Most of our pickles start on the terrace. Slices are laid out for two to three days until the water leaves and the flavour concentrates. This is the single biggest difference between a homemade pickle and a manufactured one.
03Resting
Once the oil and spices go in, the jar is left alone for days. Sold too early, a pickle tastes like its parts. Rested properly, it tastes like one thing.
What goes in the jar
Short lists, every one of them. If you can read the label, you can picture the kitchen.
- Seasonal fruit and vegetablesRaw mango, kul, amla, tamarind, garlic and green chilli, bought locally.
- Cold-pressed mustard oilIn every pickle we make. It carries the spice and keeps the jar.
- Whole spicesFenugreek, fennel, mustard seed and dried red chilli, tempered in hot oil.
- Jaggery or sugar where it belongsAmla and tamarind are sweetened with jaggery, kul with sugar.
What we make, and when
The fruit decides the calendar. When a season ends, so does the batch.
Early summer
Raw mango comes in, gets sliced and goes up to the terrace.
Winter
Kul and amla, made only while the fruit lasts.
Through the year
Garlic and green chilli, for people who want heat.
How it is eaten at home
A spoon on the side of rice and dal. That is all a good achar asks for.
Amsi with rice and dal
Garlic achar with rice and dal
Tamarind with aloo posto and begun bhaja
Kuler achar with rice and dal
Packed to travel across India
Every jar is sealed, double wrapped and cushioned before it goes to the courier, because Indian parcel handling is not gentle.
- Sealed food-grade jars
- Double wrapped and cushioned
- Delivered anywhere in India
- Arrived broken? We replace it. See our refund policy.
Talk to us
You will reach the people who make the pickles.
