A beautifully fragrant set of spice blends that will take your coffee to the next level. Add a touch of drama, a soupçon of romance and a pinch of health to your daily cuppa!

 The aroma of freshly made coffee has the power to instantly transport you. It’ll make you glide into a Parisian bistro with elan, throwing out a bonjour as nonchalantly as you throw out a mysterious smile. It’ll make you tiptoe into a musty old bookshop in a small, crowded Bangalore market, the wisdom of centuries slowly seeping into your bones. It’ll make you sit at a bright, sunlit café in an anonymous city, and it’ll lift your spirit till you notice the small things that actually matter. Now imagine amplifying that aroma. Imagine adding subtle notes to it so that the first romance of coffee becomes the only love affair you’ll ever need. Imagine being transported further still in the getaway that plain coffee offered you at first…

 Okay, we could go on and on and make a whole Inception-like scenario here. But that’s the power of coffee when enhanced with Ammiji’s Coffee Spice.

 Coffee is the brain-fuel, the morning wake-me-up, the evening shake-me-up and the anytime romance that we all need in our lives. And what does coffee need? Just a pinch of Ammiji’s Coffee Spice to take it from a tepid romance to a wild, knock-your-socks-off full-blown love affair!

 Ammiji’s Coffee Spice Sampler Box contains four tiny, powerful jars. They’re named after the 4 seasons – not because they’re meant for those seasons, but because the aroma of them evokes the emotions of that particular season.

We have worked on these blends for almost a year, exploring the flavour profiles of a host of flowers, herbs and spices, and coming up with some very unconventional and some very classic combinations. All our Coffee Spice blends contain ingredients that are handpicked. All are meant to add value to your coffee. All of them have their individual health benefits and promise to transport your cup of coffee into something other than a mere pick-me-up.

 Spring

 Early spring, when the ground is still dark and mulchy. The earthy, addictive fragrance of damp mud juxtaposed with the fresh, heady aroma of garden flowers that have just started blooming. The promise of warmth, of newness and of untold delights that lie in wait ahead.

 Ammiji’s Spring Coffee Spice captures this and more with its unique blend of flower and herb, lemon and liquorice. Cardamom and rosemary add a slightly exotic, old-school touch to it while the floral undertones imparted by lavender are accented by lemon. Star anise and its sharp sweetness bring everything together to make a blend that brings to mind fresh leaves, flowers, mud, and sunshine.

 Ingredients: Star Anise, Cardamom, Lavender, Lemon, Rosemary

 Summer

 Summer in full bloom. Heat and dust. Ice-cream and long, cool drinks. That longing for a cool breeze and that craving for tang. The connection with the earth that suddenly seems cooler than the sky. That impatient wait for any hint of a cloud on the horizon. The fulfilment of spring’s promise and the belief that there are still better things around the corner. The aroma of fruit laden trees and flower laden shrubs. All this and more…in Ammiji’s Summer Coffee Spice.

 This blend has a decidedly citrusy orange note, accentuated with refreshing ginger and fennel. Avarampoo flowers, known for their ability to prevent dehydration, are added for a subtle floral note. And overlaying it all, there’s gorgeously nostalgic vanilla.

 Ingredients: Fennel, Ginger, Avarampoo, Orange, Vanilla.

 Autumn

 The dust has given way to the monsoon, which in turn has given way to a revived, lush earth. Festivity and joy thrums in the air. The smell of smoke and of spice permeates into our sub conscience. The air turns pleasant, bringing with it the urge to celebrate everything – life, family, friends, ourselves. And food, glorious food, becomes an indulgence once again.

 Think pumpkin pies, apple turnovers and spiced teacakes. Think cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves. Because that’s exactly what this blend contains. A highly fragrant mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, layered with ginger and allspice berries. The end result is heady and warm. And addictive.

 Ingredients: Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Allspice, Clove.

 Winter

 Freezing winds. Warm woollens. Cold noses. Hot spice. Winter is a study in contrasts. From snuggling up in front of a fireplace, to opening up a window to let the cool air in. From a delicious mug of hot chocolate on a cold, winter night to the crunch of cold carrots and radishes on a sunny winter afternoon.

 And that’s why our Winter Coffee Spice has a pinch of bright cayenne pepper thrown into a warming blend with heavy, chocolate tones. Raw cacao nibs, with their immense health benefits, form the base of this blend. Mace, cinnamon and star anise lend the subtly pervasive warmth while the pepper adds that dash of contrasting heat.

 Ingredients: Cinnamon, Star anise, Cacao nibs, Cayenne pepper, Mace.

 How to Use

 Add a pinch of Ammiji’s Coffee Spice to your cup of coffee while brewing it. A pinch is all that is required to give it flavour and fragrance.

You can use these spice blends in your chai too! Or in cakes, puddings, pies…whatever takes your fancy! Ammiji’s Coffee Spice is a versatile spice blend; how you use it is up to you!

 Note: These are jars of potent spice blends. They do not contain any coffee.

 Store the jars in a cool place, away from direct sunlight.

 Contents: 4 jars of Ammiji’s Coffee Spice; each jar contains 12 gm.

 Price: Rs 850

We turn onions into gold with this chutney. Layers of slowly built flavor; a sweet and spicy umami taste that you won’t be able to resist.

Any seasoned cook will tell you the magic that a medium slow flame will do to onions. Slowly browning them till science takes over – caramelization turns the natural sugar present in onions into new, simpler sugar molecules and the Maillard reaction ensures that layers upon layers of flavor and aroma are built up. You don’t need to know the science to know that the result is a mellow, melting, soft hot mess! Pungent raw onions have turned into sweet, brown gold.

Ammiji’s recipe for her classic Onion Chutney takes that sweet, brown gold, adds more layers of flavor to it with garlic and ginger, and then even more with curry leaves, resulting in a condiment that’s too complex to describe, but is one of the best things you’ll ever scoop out of a jar. The natural sweetness of caramelized onions is magnified by the addition of organic jaggery, and then balanced by the tanginess of amchur, anardana and tamarind. So much goodness in one little jar – you have to taste it to believe it!

Ammiji’s Caramelized Onion Chutney is as desi as it comes – so it’ll go with any of your regular meals. But it’s also versatile, so there’s ample room to get inventive with it. Layer your burgers and sandwiches with it for a seriously good umami kick. Add it to your cheeseboard (pair it with cheddar and you’ll be in heaven!), add it to a marinade instead of barbeque sauce, stir it into a stir-fry, or just eat it plain. The sky is literally the limit when it comes to this gorgeous chutney. One of our favorites here at Ammiji’s kitchen, as you can undoubtedly tell. :)

Ingredients: Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Jaggery, Dry Mango Powder, Pomegranate seeds, Tamarind, Curry Leaves

Weight: 175 gms

Price: Rs 500 400

Good for: 6 months

Keep Refrigerated. (This chutney contains no preservatives.)

Always use a clean, dry spoon while scooping out Ammiji’s legendary chutneys!

The perfect way to add some spice and tang to your meals. And so much deliciousness!

This one’s for those of you who appreciate the yin and yang of life. The black and white. The khatta and meetha. The teekha and addictive. Okay, we could go on and on.

Ammiji’s intolerance for bland, unaccompanied meals is legendary. We, her grandkids, knew that we’d never be served a meal at her table that wasn’t accompanied by a chutney, a pickle or some special thing that she had brewed up. And as kids, one of our favorites was this addictive Lemon Chutney. It was khatta enough to make your toes curl, and meetha enough to have with the last bite of our meal. And it was totally addictive. So much so, that we finished it faster than Ammiji could make it, often making her mutter, “Khasma nu khaaney, sungh lende ne inoo!” (Roughly translates too: *Mild slur*, they inhale this chutney!) That we did.

And once you get your hands on this spectacular chutney, we’re sure you’ll be inhaling it too. It took us a while to tweak Ammiji’s original recipe so that we could substitute sugar with jaggery and still make it as delicious, and we seem to have done it. 

Slow-cooked lemon pulp and juice, sweetened with jaggery and spiced up sparingly. Put this on your shelf stat!

Ingredients: Lemon, Jaggery, Salt, Black Salt, Red Chilli, Garam Masala, Mustard Oil.

Weight: 225 gms

Price: Rs 450 350 (inclusive of taxes)

Good for: 3 months

Keep Refrigerated. (This chutney contains no preservatives.)

Always use a clean, dry spoon while scooping out Ammiji’s legendary chutneys!

The Indian wonderberry, Amla, now pickled according to Ammiji’s strict instructions…

Everyone, and we literally mean everyone, is aware of the tremendous powerhouse that our indigenous amla is. It is one of the richest sources of vitamin C. And the best part – none of that vitamin C is lost while we turn it into delicious food! Here at Ammiji’s, we use amla in our Chyawanprash, we make a superb chutney out of it, we dry it up to make powder for our kaadha, and now, we’ve gone on and pickled it up!

Ammiji was very choosy about the amlas that she would put into her pickle. None of those big, fat juicy amlas were chosen – they were put away for other things. She chose the tiniest, tartest amlas – babies, almost – because she felt that they would taste best in the pickle. And like always, we bow down to Ammiji’s wisdom.

So here’s Ammiji’s Amla Pickle, pickled her way, with the tiny bite-sized amlas she would have chosen.

P.S: did you know that this pickle will provide you a good dose of Vitamin C AND good gut bacteria?

Ingredients: Baby Amla, Salt, Red Chilli, Fenugreek seeds, Mustard seeds, Fennel seeds, Nigella seeds, Mustard Oil

Weight: 300 gms

Price: Rs 400 300 (inclusive of taxes)

Good for: 8 months

Refrigerate after opening. (This pickle contains no preservatives.)

Always use a clean, dry spoon while scooping out Ammiji’s delicious pickles!

Include a delicious dose of health in your daily meals. This pickle harnesses the massive power of garlic in tiny, delicious and intensely addictive bites.

 Who hasn’t heard about the multifarious benefits of garlic? From curing colds to increasing longevity, garlic and the compounds present in it have been credited with myriad health benefits by civilizations through the ages. Maybe that is why this aromatic is revered and included in almost every cuisine around the world.

 And of course, Ammiji is all for the wisdom passed down through generations! While ginger is her favourite remedy for anything that ails you, garlic is her steady way of ensuring that nothing ever ails you. And her garlic pickle is our way of ensuring that you get a regular dose of good health!

 Ammiji’s Garlic Pickle has fat cloves of desi garlic, pickled with mild spices. It’s not very spicy – Ammiji believed in letting the flavour and umami of garlic shine through in this pickle. It will go well with almost anything – from theplas to paranthas, and from dal-chawal to sabzi-roti. Just make sure that you eat it every single day, as Ammiji intended!

 Ingredients: Garlic, Salt, Red Chilli, Fenugreek seeds, Mustard seeds, Fennel seeds, Nigella seeds, Vinegar, Mustard Oil.

 Weight: 175 gm

 Price: Rs 400 300 (inclusive of taxes)

 Good for: 8 months

Refrigerate after opening. (This pickle contains no preservatives.)

Always use a clean, dry spoon while scooping out Ammiji’s delicious pickles!

A treasure hidden in plain sight – that’s what Ammiji calls the common Indian kitchen staple, ginger. And this is her delicious ginger pickle – supremely digestive, low on salt and oil.

Ginger is the one staple that Ammiji always keeps plenty of in her kitchen. It goes everywhere – from her tea to her curries and from her stoveside to her bedside. According to her, ginger has the power to cure everything – be it nausea, a stomache or a niggling cold. As children we were force-fed strong ginger juice sweetened with a little honey every winter evening, and brined ginger was a part of every salad that we saw on the table.

And one of the pickles that always graced Ammiji’s table was this simple Ginger pickle. Thick cut ginger, dried out in the sun till slightly hard and then pickled with very little oil and spice.

We tried out different recipes for a ginger pickle (no, please don’t tell Ammiji that!), but the one thing that we used as a touchstone was the clean taste of every bite of Ammiji’s original pickle. And so, that’s the recipe we finally went with, even though it was a minimal one!

Ammiji’s Ginger Pickle is the perfectly crunchy side to your meals. Each bite will not only bless you with the incredible power of ginger, but will also enhance your meal experience.

Ingredients: Ginger, Salt, Red Chilli, Turmeric, Aniseed, Fenugreek seeds, Nigella seeds, Coriander seeds, Mustard seeds, Mustard oil, Lemon juice.

Weight: 150 gm

Price: Rs 350 280 (Inclusive of tax) 

Good for: 12 months

Always use a clean, dry spoon to scoop out Ammiji’s pickles from the jar!

We’re taking exotic to a whole new level with this one. Fresh bambooshoots from the hills of Himachal, pickled and bottled for your leisurely tasting. ;)

Amritsar’s proximity to the hills of Himachal meant that we had lots of impromptu vacations as children. A mere 3-hour drive away, the hills of Himachal were like a shining beacon for us – a haven where long, lazy, idyllic days were spent clambering up trails, climbing trees, gazing at snow-capped peaks, eating delicious food and sipping warming drinks. For Ammiji, the proximity to the hills meant that she had even more ingredients to bring into her kitchen. Bambooshoot was one of them.

Himachal Pradesh is the only state in North-Western India where Bamboo grows wild and in abundance. The Northeastern states have been including the tender, young shoots of bamboo in their brilliant cuisine for years now. But in Himachal most bamboo grows to maturity, and is put to other uses. It is only a small percentage that is picked at the onset of the monsoon season, when still young, and is used for culinary purposes. This year, we managed to lay our hands on a small portion of that harvest, and of course, brainstormed with Ammiji about how to go about pickling it. Ammiji had all the answers for us – and that’s why she’s our Ammiji!

So here it is. Crispy, crunchy, woodsy young bambooshoot, pickled in selected spices and cold-pressed mustard oil. Full of dietary fibre, amino acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals, bambooshoots are what some would term a superfood. They have antibacterial, antiviral and anticancer properties, which make them the ideal addition to your mealtimes.

And the taste! We ourselves were pleasantly surprised by the matured pickle – the complexity of the flavours, the fragrance of the spices and texture of the shoots themselves makes for a pickle that is not only an exotic treat, but a rare delicacy too!

Ingredients: Bambooshoots, Salt, Red Chilli, Turmeric, Clove, Cinnamon, Brown Cardamom, Dry Mango Powder, Fenugreek Seeds, Nigella Seeds, Pipli, Black Pepper, Mace, Nutmeg, Garam Masala, Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Cold-pressed Mustard Oil.

Weight: 300 gm Net

Price: Rs 750  700

Good for: 6 months

Refrigerate for longer shelf life. Always use a dry, clean spoon.