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Fruit from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal

Aam ka achar (mango oil pickle)आम का अचार

Aam ka achar is raw green mango cut into pieces, salted, mixed with spices and packed under oil. Salt, acid and to a small extent the spices preserve it, and yeasts such as Pichia kudriavzevii have been isolated from a home-made pickle. How much true fermentation happens has not been measured.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Aam ka achar itself.

Short entryFruit

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHouseholds use their own proportions; no tested household recipe was found. FAO's industrial version first stores the slices in 20 % brine.
Fresh, fully mature, firm but unripe mangoRiper fruit gives a fruity smell instead of the green mango flavour[fao134]
Salt[fao134]
Spices to taste (for example turmeric, fenugreek, fennel, nigella, mustard seed, red chilli)[fao134][s2]
Vegetable oil to cover[fao134]
Start
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What changes: Raw mango is cut in single strokes into pieces

Step 1 of 3
Cut the firm raw mango in single strokes
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Stainless knives are used; iron or copper can blacken the fruit, and single strokes avoid mushy pieces.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Aam ka achar is raw green mango cut into pieces, salted, mixed with spices and packed under oil. Salt, acid and to a small extent the spices preserve it, and yeasts such as Pichia kudriavzevii have been isolated from a home-made pickle. How much true fermentation happens has not been measured. Salt is 20 % (Battcock M 1998). Pichia kudriavzevii does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Salt20 %Reported[fao134]Salt the pieces

What makes this one different

Aam ka achar is cured mainly by salt, acid and oil, with spices, rather than by a long lactic ferment in brine. Philippine burong mangga, by contrast, is soured for a few days in weak brine and eaten fresh.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Kerala kadumangaMade from whole tender mangoes instead of cut pieces.
  • Avakaya (Andhra)Coated in mustard powder and chilli under sesame oil.

Safety

FAO notes that the high acid level of finished mango pickle keeps the risk of food poisoning low, that it keeps well in a cool place, and that if processed well it can be kept for several months. FAO is describing its own method, which first soaks the slices in 20 % salt solution. No source we read measures the salt or pH of household pickles, so its note does not clear a lightly salted home batch.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

A Sanskrit work of 915 CE, Trivikrama Bhatta's Nalachampu, describes pickles of green mango; medieval cookbooks such as the Manasollasa (1130 CE) also give mango pickle recipes.

  1. [fao134] Battcock M., Azam-Ali S. 1998, Fermented fruits and vegetables, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 134, chapter 6, 6.2.1 Green mango picklegov
  2. [lata2022] Lata P., Kumari R., Sharma K.B., Rangra S., Savitri 2022, In vitro evaluation of probiotic potential and enzymatic profiling of Pichia kudriavzevii Y33 isolated from traditional home-made mango pickle, J. Genet. Eng. Biotechnol. 20:132 (abstract)paper
  3. [ragul2017] Ragul K., Syiem I., Sundar K., Shetty P.H. 2017, Characterization of probiotic potential of Bacillus species isolated from a traditional brine pickle, J. Food Sci. Technol. 54(13):4473–4483 (abstract)paper
  4. [s2] English Wikipedia, South Asian pickle (history: Nalachampu 915 CE, citing Kamat 1980; Manasollasa 1130 CE) and Mango pickle (kadumanga)wiki