Zishta Inc

Curries to Gravies, Sambhar to fish curry, every cook we met made it a point to disclose the secret behind the distinct taste and flavour: Kalchatti. One more age old traditional vessel passed on for several generations. Kalchatti is made of stone (soap stone) from the earth and is designed to retain heat and keeps food warm for 4-5 hours. The natural minerals are imparted to the cooked food thereby providing the right supplements and nutrition. Apart from cooking, it can be used to keep cooked food,  store salt, pickles or even use it to make the tastiest curd. Our journey to revive this cookware took us to the remotest villages near Salem. We interacted with the last generation of artisans toiling 16 hours a day to make the best Kalchattis. From manually excavating a block of soap stone to filing the vessel to its final finish, it takes more than 4 hours to make one vessel.

• Size7 ft x 4.5 ft & 7 ft x 3 ft

Everyone has loving memories of sitting or sleeping on the floor on mats made by local artisans of their community. Mat weaving is an age-old tradition of India with references dating back to Atharva Veda. India has a rich tradition of hand crafted mats made from grasses and reeds that are abundantly available in our country. The traditional custom of sitting on the floor has several benefits including calming of mind, better digestion of food, improvement in body posture and is also said to make one humbler. In our first introduction of traditional mats, we bring to you Madur mat hand crafted by traditional artisans from Paschim Medinipur of west Bengal. Making of Madur mats is an age-old tradition of Bengal & a traditional item used in every household of Bengal for sitting, sleeping or for performing rituals. It takes an artisan around 2-3 days to make a single mat.

• Thickness1 MM
• Diameter9 Inches
• Weight1 KG

“Loree Hamlei”, the local name for stone pottery of Manipur is a traditional cookware which is used for cooking by the local community even today. The clay used for this pottery is obtained by crushing and mixing two types of rocks that are locally found in & around Longpi region of Manipur: Serpentinite & Weather rocks. The final stage of the pottery involves rubbing them with a local leaf known as Machee leaf which renders the black colour to the pottery.

Relive your memories and the taste of your grandmother’s cooking, from Kozhambu to chicken curry, the taste is exceptional and you will know the difference. With the porous structure, it allows heat circulation and enables locking the nutrition of food stored. Clay being alkaline by nature neutralizes the acidity of food cooked/stored in the earthenware. Good quality earthenware is dependent on the quality of the clay used and skill level of the artisans who make it. We went in search of the best clay and best artisans and that took us to the Cauvery river delta. The artisans of Cuddalore & Villupuram have developed the right technique to make the best and long lasting earthenware. Even the way they kiln these vessels after applying a coating of red sand is traditional – no big furnaces. This process alone takes 3 -4 days to make one vessel but the promise is it will last long!

Neem tree, the ubiquitous ever-lasting tree that dot every household across India has played a critical role in the evolution of our sustainable lifestyle. Remember our grandmother’s home remedies using Neem leaves and Neem flowers to the traditional Neem kitchen utensils with incredible durability. A traditional household will always have one of these trees in their back yard to reap the rich benefits of this nature’s wonder. In our journey of reviving traditional knowledge, we at Zishta mapped the use of Neem based kitchen accessories as safe and simple solution to a sustainable kitchen across many traditional households in India. Building on this traditional knowledge, our range of Neem wood kitchen accessories help you bringing in to your household the wonderful benefits of Neem. Handcrafted by rural artisans of West Bengal, these products are a reminder of our rich and varied tradition.