Abstract

It is a matter of common knowledge that pickles form a very important item of the daily diet of an Indian. They are useful in two ways. They enable a man to eat his food with relish, and secondly they are very helpful in the digestion of food. In the light of recent advances in science, it has been proved that such of our food materials as are lacking in vitamin content have low food values. It is also known that almost all the materials used for pickling do contain the vitamins necessary for our healthy growth. In various families a statement is often made by old grandmothers that people of a generation or two ago habitually used pickles in large quantities and in great variety every day along with their food and were able thereby, to lead healthy lives and live much longer than the average man or woman of to-day. It is also claimed by them that in capacity of work and in intelligence they far excelled men of the present day. That diet has a great deal to do with the health and longevity of persons is admitted by medical men in all parts of the World. A diet accompanied by pickles is also generally recognized to be healthy and invigorating. An attempt is therefore made in this article to give botanical notes on some of the common pickles in use in South India, with the hope that those who may have a taste for them may know what they are botanically, while others that may not know them may cultivate a taste for them. In our country where economic distress is so- severely felt, we have to aim at the cheapest, and yet the most wholesome food. A little of cooked rice, some salted buttermilk and a slice of pickle will make up all the menu that a poor man may need. Pickles are so cheap and so good that one wonders why they are not used more largely.

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