Preserving food

Savita loves to eat pickles. Whenever she goes on a school, trip, she takes it along with her, as it does not get spoilt like other cooked vegetable dishes.

Savita’s mother prepared mango pickle for her. She diced raw mangoes and kept the pieces to dry under the sun.

Why do you she did that?

Drying removes the moisture from the food item. Microbes cannot grow in the absence of moisture, hence, the dried mango pieces will not spoil when made into pickles.

We need to store food so that it can be used later. This kind of storing is called preservation. Food items are preserved in different ways. Some of these are:

Salting- vegetables and fruits are treated with dry salt or salt solution. They are mostly made into pickles that last for many months. Fish and mutton are also salted to last longer.

Vacuum packing-some food items like tea, nuts, cheese, fish are dried and packed in vacuum (air-tight containers) to preserve them and also to maintain their flavor. Bacteria and other germs do not get oxygen to live and grow in vacuum. So food remains fresh and lasts for a long time.

Sweetening-fruits such as pears, peaches, apples, mangoes and apricots are preserved in sugar syrup. Fruits are also preserved with sugar when made into jams, jellies and chutneys.

Dehydration or drying- food is dried in the sun or using drying machines. Skim milk, soup mixes and meat powders are dehydrated food items. Fruits and vegetables such as raisins, dates, figs and peas are dried to keep for a long time.

Freezing- vegetables, fruits, fish and meat are commonly persevered in cold storage so that they can last for longer periods of time.

Savita is happy today. School is closed on the occasion of Ugadi festival. Her friend kavita has invited to spend the day with her. Savita gets ready quickly and reaches kavita’s house. It is beautifully decorated with flowers and kolams. Kavita’s mother is in the kitchen.

``Happy Ugadi, aunty. What are you making today?’’ asks Savita.

Aunty replies, that is ``Happy Ugadi to you, Savita. I am making Ugadi pachdi.’’ Savita looks puzzled. `What is that? I have never heard of it.’’

Aunty laughs, ``Ugadi pachdi is a special chuntey that is made on this day. It has all the four different tastes-sweet, salty, bitter and sour,’’ she says. ``This is interesting. How is that possible though?’’ Savita asks further.

Aunty explains, ``There is a separate ingredient for each taste. Those are Jaggery (gur) for the sweet taste, tamarind (imli) for sour, Neem flowers for bitter and salt. All of them are mixed in the correct proportion and the pachdi is ready.’’

Both kavita and Savita enjoyed the unique taste of pachdi. Kavita liked the sweet taste Savita preferred the sour taste.

*Ugadi is a festival celebrated in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to mark first of the year of the Hindu colander.

Essential for your body!

Drink least two glasses of milk and six glass of water every day. Have a full meal. Include curds, green and fruits in your daily diet.