How to store your jar

There is no preservative in any of this, which is the point — and it means storage matters more than it does with a factory jar. None of this is complicated; it is what every Nepali kitchen already does.

Pickles and achar

• Always a dry spoon. One wet spoon is the single most common way a jar goes off.
• Keep the oil covering the pickle. If the top looks dry, tilt the jar or top it up with a little mustard oil.
• Cool, dark shelf before opening. After opening, refrigerate — the label says for how long.
• Close the lid properly. Achar takes on the smell of whatever it sits next to.

Adauri, kumhrauri and masyaura

• Airtight container, dry place. They are sun-dried, and they will pull moisture back out of the air if you let them.
• No refrigeration — the fridge is damp and will soften them.
• If they feel soft after a humid week, spread them in the sun for an hour and they come back.

Papad

• Airtight, flat, away from steam. A shelf above the stove is the worst place in the house.
• Roast on an open flame or shallow fry — both work; the dough is the same.

Gundruk, sinki and dry chutney

• Airtight jar, dry place, out of the sun.
• They keep about a year and get a little stronger as they go, which most people prefer.

How to tell something has actually gone off

Fuzzy mould on the surface, a sour smell that is not the usual ferment, or fizzing when you open it. Trust your nose. If a jar is like that inside its date, tell us — that is on us, not you, and we will replace it.