What is Achar ? What is Chutney?

 

Achar is Indian pickle, Chutney is Indian conserve, Chatni is ground-up Indian salsa.

Achar is Indian pickle. Pickling is basically a process of preserving foods over time with minimum loss to texture. The fruits and vegetables are dried in hot sun to evaporate most of the surface moisture, cured in salt, cracked or whole pickling spices. The spices used add flavor, kill bad bacteria, and prevent growth of bad bacteria. In western cuisine, water is used as the medium. Oil is used as the medium for Achar. Traditionally, the mustard seed oil is used for its added pungency.

The new Achar is aged in hot sun for few more days. Aging allows the flavors to blend in and mellow. The shelf-life of some of Lime Achar has been found to exceed 25 years.

Popular fruits used for Achar are Mangoes, and Limes. Popular vegetables are: Green chili peppers, Turnip, Carrots, and Cauliflowers.     

                                                     

 What is Chutney?

 

Most of the food historians agree that word 'Chutney' has its roots in India. In Hindi, Chatni has two meanings: 'pounding in to a pulp'; and finger licking good. Chat means 'to lick'.

The 'Chutney' can be attributed to Major Grey. During British Raj, mango chutney was commercially introduced as a spread made by cooking mangoes, sugar, vinegar, and pickling spices to for Achar. As the popularity of the Mango Chutney grew, other fruits and vegetables were used: apples, apricot, guava, peaches, plums, ripened tomatoes, and unripe green tomatoes.

The Chutney is a cooked conserve consisting of fruits, sugar, salt, Achar spices, and acid. The acid may be present naturally, or added in the form of vinegar, or lime to make pH factor low enough to extend the product shelf life.

In Hindi, Chutney is called Saunth. Most popular Saunth is made with ripened tamarind pulp, ginger, Jaggery, and dried fruits such as raisins and dates Chatni is like a salsa ground into a loose paste. The fresh vegetables and, or fruits are ground together with spices to form a loose paste. The Chatni is not cooked.

 

Popular examples are: Coconut Chatni, Onion Chatni, Cilantro Chatni, Peppermint Chatni, Hari Chatni (Combination of cilantro, peppermint, and sweet bell peppers. Hari in Hindi means green), Mango Chatni (made with unripe green mango meat)

 

This is a list of common Indian pickles, which have a wide range of flavours and textures. Indian pickles are generally pickled with oil, vinegar, lemon juice or water

 

Contents

1 Amla pickle

2 Assorted pickle

3 Carrot pickle

4 Garlic pickle

5 Green chili pickle

6 Indian pickle

7 Meats

8 Onion pickle

9 Raw mango and chickpea pickle

10 Red chili pickle

11 Sweet mango pickle

12 Sweet sour lemon pickle

13 Tomato pickle

14 Coconut pickle

15 See also

16 References