KARACHI: Pickles wherever they are being sold beckon you. How can one resist that deliciously spicy aroma?

Pickles were used to make bland food taste better even before ketchup arrived on the scene. And no chef at any restaurant has a problem with your reaching for that jar of pickles as he does when you ask the waiter for ketchup.

Surprisingly, though the delicacy and the method of making it goes back to over 4,000-year-old India, the name ‘pickle’ is derived from ‘pekel’ that means brine in Dutch. In India, of course, it was known as ‘achar’. The making of achar came about with the need of preserving food especially those foods, which would go out of season, in salt, oil or vinegar.

Green chilli pickle.

And once the technique was invented and perfected, it was used in making pickles and preserves with other fruits and vegetables that also remain in season throughout the year such as onion, garlic, green chillies, cucumber, etc. But the most popular pickle, at least in our part of the world is the mango pickle. And the most popular makers of pickles are the Hyderabadis, or people who hail from Hyderabad Deccan in India.

Karachi is lucky to have a family of several brothers named Kaleem, Faheem, Saleem, Waseem, Aleem, etc., who belong to that region and all of whom are into the Hyderabadi pickle-making business. A street in Hyderabad Colony here has several pickle shops run by one brother or the other. If one is called Chatkharey Foods, another is called Chatkharey House.

Chicken pickle.

Kaleem Shah, who holds the fort at Chatkharey Foods, says that the business was his father’s originally. “My mother made great pickles and preserves and my father used her recipes in his business. Our workers have all learned first-hand from our mother,” he says with pride.

Opening up a jar of garlic pickle, he insists that it be tasted. Chilli, mango and Nauratan chutney is to follow. Asked if pickles go bad if left open for long or if touched, the salesman only laughs while shaking his head.

“No, those are myths mostly. Just don’t let your finger or spoon be wet because water can harm pickles. Also it is better to use a wooden or plastic spoon or fork to draw out the pickles instead of using metal cutlery,” he explains.

Pickles in vinegar.

Asked about his most popular varieties, Kaleen Shah says it is the Hyderabadi mix pickle followed by the Rishtay ka Achar, which is also known as the Kasondi pickle, lemon pickles and green chilli pickles. About Rishtay ka Achar, he explains that it got its name from pulp or raesha as it is prepared from peeled raw mangoes.

“This time of year is right for making pickles as it is mango season,” he says while also bringing out his most expensive pickles of meat, chicken and shrimp. All the three varieties are for Rs520 per kg. Asked if they go bad and must be refrigerated, the gentleman says: “Hey they are pickles. They are preserved for years!”

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2014