My experince in Homemade Achaar

Every culture has a catchall condiment—that one sauce you can put on literally anything and it will taste great (think: hoisin, harissa, pebre). For Indians, it’s achar (also spelled achaar), a combo of sliced fruits and vegetables pickled in oil and spices that has the power to vivify even the most tired bowl of rice. For most Indian families, achaar is a dinnertime condiment staple. But when I moved into my own apartment in New York a few years ago, achaar was notably absent; this is because it’s time intensive to make at home, and most store-bought versions are loaded with salt and preservatives.

And then I found homemade Achaar, a small-batch achar company run by Seema Dubey of popular blog homemade Achaar. Finally, someone was creating bottled achar that tasted like it should: fiery, complex and tangy, not to mention made fresh in someone’s home, not mass-manufactured in a co-packing facility. Dubey does, in fact, make each jar herself at Homemade Achaar a food pantry in Bed-Stuy. -Unknown