When I moved to Mundakayam, Kerala, two decades ago, I saw a lot of the fruit and produce we grow on our land selling at un-remunerative prices in the market. That’s when I thought of adding value to what we grow here by making pickles and jams out of them. The first product I tried my hand at was papaya jam. Then I tried plantain jam, the recipe of which I got from my mother-in-law and now, I make a whole range of vegetarian pickles and jams.
Rooted Wisdom: Culinary Insights from Generations
We can take a leaf out of the ways of our mothers and grandmothers. Their beliefs were simple but firm. They used all the goodness of fruits, vegetables, leaves and roots that mother nature has offered in generous. Also they made sure nothing in the kitchen go to waste. These dictums were quite a revelation when I started on my food journey. Store shelves then offered the customer a humdrum list of options- pickles came in the guise of lime, mango and a few other fruit and vegetable in an unimaginative one-size-fits-all pickle mix and it was hard to differentiate between one or the other unless you actually bit into a piece of the main ingredient. Embracing these traditional values, we strive to create the best homemade pickles in Kerala. Our goal is to ensure your satisfaction, always striving to exceed your expectations.
At Sheilas we value diversity. We pored over dog eared old cookbooks, quizzed old timer pickle making moms and tweaked some recipes to be able to create a wide range of pickles that can please different palates. Some are sweet, some sour, some fiery hot, some mild, so most of our customers are able to pick and choose what they favour. As with our jams, we try to grow what eventually fills our pickle jars.
We grow and maximise the use of the vilumbipuli, the kandari chillies, green chillies and curry leaves that we use in our pickles. Many of the star ingredients that we cannot grow in sufficient quantity we source whenever possible from farmers’ markets, making it as close as we can to the farm to table experience. We use salt and oil for flavour and not merely for preservation and long shelf life. This calls for a delicate balancing act because we do not use artificial preservatives, additives or colouring in any of our products.