Wondering About Different Types Of Chutney And How To Preserve It? Here Are The Details.
When you are eating an Indian meal, the paste- like stuff that is lying in one corner of your plate is called chutney. Nowadays, the chutney is not limited to the plate just like when you are standing on the gol gappa’s (pani puri) cart and enjoying eating gol gappa( pani puri) and suddenly a chilli gol gappa comes, then you say Bhayia! jara mithi chutney jyada dalna.
This is how we can estimate the usage of chutney in various places and items. Chutney has a tight co-relation with poverty too, the people who don’t have enough money to buy vegetables, they use chutney in the place of vegetable with chapatis. Though, it doesn’t replace the nutritional value of vegetables but makes them easy to consume that chapatti.
Interesting History Of Chutney
The nationality of chutney is Indian. In the time of the Mughals when Emperor Shah Jahan fell ill, his hakims (doctors) suggested him to eat a spicy and flavourful dish, which must be easy to digest. This laid the foundation of chutney, at that time it is called chaat made from pulses and lentils and now it ends up with coriander, spicy mint, sour tamarind chutneys, and many other types of chutneys. Shah Jahan’s story suggests that it is powerful digestion aid. Besides health benefits, it uplifts the mood of a boring meal.
Types of Chutney and Its Ingredients
In Indian, the number of types of chutneys is more than the number of its states. It will be infatuation if we list all of them, so we list some famous chutneys below:
- Hari chutney, made up of coriander and mint.
- Sweet or Meethi chutney, made up of Tamarind or Imli.
- Sooth or Saunth, made up of ginger and dates.
- Shengdana chutney famous in Maharashtra, made from peanuts.
As I said there are many others made from onion, unripe limes, mango, coconut, red chilli, green chilli etc? Some commonly used spices are fenugreek, cumin and Hing.
Individual Benefits of Individual Chutneys
Coriander Chutney
- Coriander leaves helps to improve digestion.
- These leaves are full of Vitamin K, Vitamin C, and Proteins.
- It lowers the blood sugar level by stimulating the release of insulin.
- It also acts as an antiseptic, for mouth ulcers.
Curry Leaf Chutney
- Curry leaves have important anti-oxidant properties.
- It is rich in Vitamin A, B, C, and E and also reduces bad LDL cholesterol.
- It is also helpful for the diabetic person.
- It resolves gastrointestinal issues.
Pudina (Mint) Chutney
- It can reduce inflammation and soothes the stomach.
- It can increase your appetite and helps to get rid out of nausea.
- It improves immunity and contains Vitamin B, C, E, and D.
Amla Chutney
- It controls pancreas’s insulin hormone secretion.
- It is rich in Vitamin C and improves immunity.
- Amla is full of benefits, it helps our body to maintain social distancing with diabetes.
Tomato Chutney
- It is rich in potassium, folate, and Vitamin C, A, and K.
- It also acts as a blood purifier.
- It is helpful for high B.P. patients and reduces the risk of heart diseases.
Onion and Garlic Chutney
- It also enhances digestion and helps in lowering blood cholesterol.
- It controls blood sugar level and increases energy level.
- It helps to fight with common cold and cough.
- It can help to fight asthma and have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.
Why Chutney’s Deteriorate If It Is Not Preserved In Proper Way?
When we give exposure to chutneys then the oxidation process starts immediately. The moisture and oxygen invite fungus to grow on chutney. Fungus uses nutrients from it, for growth and reproduction. In this course Fungus release poisonous chemicals called mycotoxins into chutney. Sometimes chutney can spoil due to different types of bacteria’s, some of them do not need oxygen presence too.
If we eat chutney with these toxins, it can affect our health and leads to food poisoning and diarrhoea. So, it should be checked first, by smell or taste, before it is eaten.
FUN FACT: Soya sauce, type of chutney have immense shelf life like honey until its lid is closed after opening lid it has use-by date of 6 months or so, depending on brand to brand.
Proper Way to Preserve Chutney
Step 1- Boil the water for 3-5 minutes in a steel pot.
Step 2- Place the glass jars (in which you want to keep your chutney) in a steel pot and let it sterilize for another 3-5 minutes.
Step 3- Take your jars out from the steel stove and place them on a clean surface at room temperature.
Step 4- let it cool under room temperature, when the jars are slightly warm, quickly fill the jar with fresh chutney.
Step 5- You must ensure that the lid is also slightly warm and it is properly closing the jar. Thank you for reading this article, if you find it informative, like it and give your valuable feedback in the comments below.
