Yes. Just the one question.
What makes us so good? No, really.
- When we say "Strawberries" or "Mangoes" on our label, that is what you get. In fact, this is not jam. This isn't some glistening, papaya-heavy, chemically-stabilised, jelly look-alike that you consume because there is nothing else for breakfast. This is the kind of fruit spread that you reward yourself with because you got out of bed this morning and adulted...for some time.
- Highly polished, processed sugar uses sulphur in the process. It has traces of sulphurous acid, which is known to cause asthma in children, amongst its various other ills. Most manufacturers use sugar which uses sulphur in the polishing process. Some even use High Fructose Corn Syrup or Concentrated Grape Juice, both of which are known to be unhealthy in large doses. We use only unsulphated cane sugar (ask us for the Certificate of Analysis).
- Every fruit that we use is picked by farmers we have long-term relationships with. These are not sourced from some trader. These fruits are bought directly from the farm and picked & sorted by us personally. We know the names of our farmers, the locations of their farms, even how they take their tea (yes, we have had them over, and they have invited us for a cuppa from time-to-time too!).
- The best fruits from the best places. Our Strawberries come from Wai-Mahabaleshwar, our Mangoes (pure Alphonso only) from Ratnagiri, our Figs from Khed-Shivapur, our Grapes from Nasik, our Oranges are from Nagpur (in fact, we are the only ones in the world that make marmalades out of some of the sweetest oranges in the world, and still make them taste better than any marmalade you've had). Even our spices come from the best places you can get these in. Ginger from Satara, Chillis from Akola, Vanilla & Black Pepper from Munnar and so on. In fact, the mint comes from our farms.
- No added preservatives or colours, no pectin powder, no "fruit-like" flavours, no emulsifiers, no anti-oxidants, no stabilisers, no fillers, no highly processed juice concentrates. Nothing, in fact, that our then two-year-old couldn't eat in the raw form. Indeed, it wouldn't be out of place for us to say that we make fruit spreads our little one can eat. And so can yours.
- Even with all of this, our spreads have an expiry date comparable with any other. They last for 12-24 months in ambient temperature before opening, and then require gentle refrigeration. In fact, our fruit spreads (the recipes being of hilly origins) are best tasted at 14 degrees Celcius. Once opened, they need to be consumed within 8-10 weeks, though frankly, no one who has bought a jar from us has managed to test this out, given they (our fruit spreads, not our customers) are usually polished off much before that.
- Unlike others, we are not in any hurry to sell. All jams, spreads, preserves, and marmalades need time to mature and age, to settle and become the shiny, gooey stuff that bursts with flavourful energy inside your mouth. Don't take our word. Try it.
- When you take a spoonful of our fruit spreads, the last thing you want is a mouthful of spice when you expect say, Strawberries or Mangoes. Our recipes ensure that the spices for our spreads are ALWAYS an after-taste. Masterchefs and professional jam-makers have wondered how we do it. We could always tell them how. But then, we'd have to shoot them.
- You will NEVER find a single flavour of ours taste the same as any other flavour. That's the beauty of the traditional recipes. But in terms of the best way to eat them, they are all the same: We recommend just dipping your finger in the jar and digging out the goodness!
- And oh yes, we almost forgot: We crack jokes, not all of them funny. But we crack jokes. They are here on our website, on our Facebook, our Twitter, our Instagram, even on our bottles, which come with unique one-liners.