Ginger Candy – Adrak Candy

Ginger, sugar. Nothing else.

What is not in it

• No glucose or corn syrup
• No preservatives
• No artificial colour, essence or added ginger flavouring
• No anti-caking agents or acidity regulators

Allergen note

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

What you will taste

Sweet on contact, cleanly, from the sugar coating. Then the ginger arrives — a real, warm heat that builds at the back of the throat and stays a while after the piece has gone. It is a slow warmth rather than a sharp bite.

Heat level

Gentle but genuinely present. Ginger heat, not chilli heat: warming rather than burning, and it fades on its own.

Texture

Thin slices, chewy rather than hard, with a light crystalline sugar coating. They do not stick together in the jar and they do not melt in a bag.

Choosing the root

Mature ginger, firm and heavy, with a strong smell when snapped. Young ginger is milder and makes a candy with nothing to say.

Peeling and slicing

Washed, peeled and sliced thin by hand. Thickness matters — too thick and the middle stays raw and fibrous, too thin and it dries to a crisp.

Sugar coating

The slices are coated in sugar and left to draw. The sugar pulls moisture from the ginger, which is what preserves it without any additive.

Slow drying

Dried gently over time rather than cooked. This is the step that keeps the aroma and the heat in the slice, and it is why this tastes of ginger and not of sugar.

When to eat it

After a heavy meal, as a digestif — which is what ginger has been used for in Indian homes for a very long time.

Other ways

• On a long drive or a train journey, when your stomach is unsettled
• Kept in a bag as a light sweet through the day — it does not melt
• Chopped into cakes, cookies or a fruit loaf
• Dropped into hot water or black tea for a quick ginger infusion

One or two pieces at a time is plenty. This is the jar people keep by the door rather than in the kitchen.

Keeping it fresh

• Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place, away from moisture and steam.
• Serve with a dry hand or a dry spoon. Damp fingers will make the sugar coating sticky and clump the pieces.
• Keep it out of the fridge — condensation is the enemy of a dried candy.
• If the slices soften in humid weather, spread them out in a warm dry place for a few hours.

Shelf life

Best within 6 to 9 months of the packing date. The date is printed on the jar.

Travelling with it

The easiest thing we make to travel with. It is dry, not a liquid or paste, so it is fine in cabin baggage on Indian domestic flights and does not need wrapping.

Available in 200 g and 500 g jars. The 200 g fits in a bag; the 500 g is for households where it disappears quickly.

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.