Sweet Pickles and Sweet Achar

Closer to chutney than to achar

A sweet pickle sits between two things people already know. It has the fruit and the sweetness of a chutney and the spice and the keeping quality of an achar. That is why it works for people who find a mustard oil pickle too much, and why it is usually the jar that disappears first in a house with children.

What is in this section

• Jujube: sweet, then a light chilli warmth, then the sour bite of the fruit. Made once a year in winter
• Ginger: sweet and citrusy at the front, with a clean warmth at the back of the throat

Sweetened, not just sugared

The sugar in these jars is doing a job. It balances the fruit and it preserves, which is why neither of them needs a chemical preservative to keep for a year. Neither one is sweet in the way a jam is sweet. There is always spice and always a sour edge holding it together.

How people eat them

Plain rice at the end of a meal, in the Bengali way. With paratha and puri. Stirred into thick curd. A spoon beside plain rice, khichdi or a paratha does the same job as a fruit chutney.