Nature In A Bottle

Family tradition, regional heritage, organic farming and a penchant to preserve the local tasty cuisine are some of the driving forces which resulted in two unique brands of pickles and allied products.

- Nikhil Raghavan

The difference between these limited range of home-made products and mass-produced ones is that the family members are personally involved in the various stages of making the food items.

Tradition in a bottle

For Chinmaya Arjun Raja, Founder and Chief Pickle Maker, Panakam, the business of making pickles is simply offering a ‘tradition in a bottle’. According to Chinmaya, “We launched Panakam in 2015 to share the traditional culinary heritage treasured by my family for generations. Various traditional food products are made at home under the Panakam umbrella using indigenous methods of pickling and preserving treasured by various traditional communities in South India.”

Hailing from a town called Rajapalayam, located in the south of Madurai in Tamil Nadu Chinmaya belongs to the Telugu-speaking Kshatriya Raju community. Rajapalayam is famous for its mangoes, cotton-based factories, and the famous Indian dog breed – the Rajapalayam Hound. His ancestors, who were from the Vijayanagara kingdom (present day Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka), migrated and settled in Rajapalayam during the reign of King Krishnadevaraya in the 15th century and the Nayakas of Madurai in the 16th century.

“My mother, Prabavathi Arjun, is an excellent cook. Frequent guests at home keep her busy in the kitchen. My father, Late Sri VKN Arjun Raja, also elevated our culinary education by making us experience different cuisines at restaurants during our travels. He also encouraged my mother to try out new recipes with exotic ingredients. She too happily experimented with new ingredients in her Rajapalayam style,” informs Chinmaya.