Meet Asha Patel: the pickle maker of Anand

Asha Patel learned to make pickles from her grandmother. Her grandmother learned from her own. The kitchen has moved — from a wood stove to a gas stove to a small steel-clad commercial unit — but the rule has not.

Cut, sun-dry, salt, and rest. No vinegar, no preservative, no shortcut.

Today Asha makes thirteen kinds of pickle for Prajnaa, and every jar passes through her hands at least twice. 'If I would not feed it to my own children,' she says, 'I will not send it to yours.'