Why I stopped buying kachampuli

The bottles on the shelf are mostly vinegar with colour in them.

Real kachampuli is Garcinia gummi-gutta boiled down until it is almost tar. A spoon of it is enough for two kilos of pork. My grandmother kept hers in a clay jar for eleven years and never once refrigerated it.

I get mine from a family in Virajpet now. It costs four times the supermarket bottle and lasts eight times as long. Pandi curry stopped tasting like a restaurant the week I switched.