Iyal-organic food store

Every once in a while,sadly not that often,you hear about something that is unique and supports your lifestyle. After having read about the organic stores in Coimbatore( THE HINDU -Metroplus)...2 of which I frequent every week,the other one called IYAL...I had never heard of ! To my amazement it was in the heart of the city unlike the other two stores.The pictures spoke a thousand words and my curiosity was indeed piqued !

Walking in to the store with trepidation and a 'I hope it's nice' thought process, I was dumbfounded and delighted at what I saw ! The attention to detail ,the cleanliness,the open space and the veg and fruit so charmingly arranged in bamboo baskets...I was absolutely enchanted. A joy for the shopper who is interested in exploring and foraging for good ,healthy produce.

The other thing that impressed me was that their staff were not only courteous but well informed and knew exactly what they were selling and where it came from ! They have many varieties of millets and for those of us who are pressed for time,they even offer packets of millet mixes for idli and dosa. 

Huge glass bottles of different kinds of podis (spice powders) are neatly arranged and labelled along with bottles of hibiscus syrup and other oils which are greatly beneficial to health.

Apart from all of this,what was very thoughtfully done was placing small terracotta jars of the different millets with their names...which made it so easy for the lay person to identify which millet they preferred to buy !

I do hope stores such as these continue to thrive and get increased patronage because everyone needs to start making healthier choices somewhere and at some point of time...why not start here ?!

Variety of millets

Apples

An Apple is one of the first fruits introduced to a child as weaning foods...it's also one of the first words a child learns at school while learning the English alphabet ! The shape and colour of the fruit are so pleasing that it's not uncommon to find it illustrated in a lot of our childhood explorations of art :)) The perfect apple is something we all strived at achieving on paper in kindergarten,complete with the stem and leaf ;)))

Today while becoming aware of the food that nourishes are bodies the Apple sadly has got a lot of bad press...All over the world people looking at primarily short term monetary gain are ripening the fruit unnaturally and thereby slowly allowing it to do more harm than good for the human body ! I for one had given up eating the apple a while ago...because one always never knew where exactly the fruit came from...if I did need to cook with it I preferred to stick to the Indian apple rather than a glossy waxed one.

Reading an Enid Blyton book as a child one always thought of an apple as picnic fare...the child sitting by the brook,munching on a crunchy apple and then tossing the core in the water after eating...I always wondered,what it would be like to pluck an apple off the tree and bit into it....would I be disappointed or would juicy,crunchy,sweet,tart be the adjectives that came to mind?!......
Recently thanks to the efforts of a dear family friend and my mother in law,we actually got a tiny apple harvest after 7 long years of nurturing the trees...small ,though they were and of different shades of red...I am pleased as punch to tell you that they were indeed,crisp,juicy,sweet and tart all in one bite...the only thing missing was the picnic spot !!!!

So imperfectly perfect ! Now ,since the kids were always taught to eat an apple without the skin due to the pesticides etc....that posed to be a problem...I could not bear the thought of throwing away the skin so in a flash of inspiration, set out to make an apple peel chutney....nothing much to look at,thanks to the efforts of an over exuberant kitchen helper,who ground it to a fine puree  but oodles of flavour :)))
If you do have an organic dealer in your neighbourhood and you know where the produce comes from,do try biting into an organic apple,it does indeed match the taste and smell  of the childhood stories that you have stored away somewhere deep in your subconscious !

Drumstick / Moringa

In our fast changing world where everything needs to be achieved yesterday and all possible shortcuts are welcomed and used for daily living...so too is the quest for healthy anti ageing miracle foods which boost our immunity and give us the satisfaction of doing good for our body which we may otherwise ignore while multi tasking from day to day !!!
While many of us look outside of our own cuisine...to the west who thankfully remind us of the health benefits of foods /herbs/grains that we have around us,that we may have long forgotten or tend to take for granted until we are given a reminder in the form of a glossy article in a magazine dedicated to a healthy lifestyle !!!

While we are trying to include flax seed, quinoa, goji berries,alfalfa...in our diet we must keep in mind the benefits of foods that are around us and are far easily available and workable into an Indian diet like our humble DRUMSTICK TREE...or otherwise known as Moringa Oleifera or The Tree of Life !

Kitchen Garden

Kitchen Garden... now to most of us the hesitations in having a fully functional kitchen garden is a lack of time ,sometimes a lack of space ,no extra set of hands to help to weed /maintain...the list can be endless !
But I think once you introduce your family to the joy of seeing a fruit or vegetable ripening in your own home and harvesting it just before it needs to be cooked or eaten...well that kind of satisfaction and happiness is unexplainable ! Now thanks to green groups like Swastika ,run by Chitra Krishnaswamy ,who has an amazing array of fruits,vegetables and greens in her home...it has become far easier than before to nurture a modest but adequate kitchen garden in a small area using organic farming techniques !
One has to meet her to be inspired and let me tell you, a taste of your own home grown produce and you will be hooked for life ! These grow bags do simplify things to a great deal...she offers to sell you compost and the panchakavya solution to spray on the plants...that I think is so convenient because one does not need to panic about having to prepare these solutions ! She is very encouraging and generous with her knowledge!
A kitchen garden is not only beneficial for the quality of produce that we will consume but also is so therapeutic for the mind and one who works with nature is a happy soul indeed and you will want to share and make the world around you a healthier place for as many people as you can....I think we all can do with a healthy dose of happiness ,contentment and delicious fruits and veggies...a rich investment to pass on to the next generation. You can contact CHITRA KRISHNASWAMY at 98655 24323...I highly recommend that you at least take a look !