Hey, we’re the Bolas
My wife and I were both born and raised in California, namely the Bay Area. No, we didn’t grow up together, or go to the same high school or college – but once we did meet (in our mid twenties) it was because of an app, it was good timing, and it was wonderful. I won’t bore you with the details, but a notable takeaway from our dating life was how much we connected over the topic of food, and specifically pickled foods.
If you didn’t already know, Indians love their pickles. But let me clarify, because the first image to enter your mind might be of the long and green variety, and while we love those too, they aren’t the type of pickles I’m referring to. The ones I’m talking about are called achar. Sour, salty, mouth waveringly savory – It’s a pickled condiment that should live in everyone’s household the same as kimchi, jalapeños, and the beloved dill pickle.
So here we are at our first, second, and third dates – Learning about how she would eat achar out of a bowl like it was a main course, about how my AOL Instant Messenger (haha remember that?) screen name was achar24, and all the while we fell deeper in love… with pickles. We learned the recipes we could from our respective parents, we learned new ones from friends, and as true pickling savants we began creating our own recipes. Not just achar, but all types of pickled goods. We tested and created recipes for kimchi, sauerkraut, achar, you name it. If it could be pickled, we tried it.
So what now? Well, we’re married, the wedding is over and we’ve finally got some time back to ourselves. Now we’re starting a blog to showcase what we’ve learned so far from our pickling endeavors, and more importantly document what we learn as we continue our journey. We intend to make this a place you will be able to return to for reference, tips, recipes, and even food pairings to your favorite pickled condiments. We truly hope you enjoy your time here – Happy pickling!
Follow us on social media: