Aug 2, 2026 ·
What Makes Kaji Nemu Different From a Supermarket Lemon
Most lemons sold in Indian supermarkets are bred for a long shelf life and a thick, shippable skin. Kaji Nemu is bred by nobody — it's a local Assam variety that has been grown in home gardens and small orchards for generations, and it shows in the fruit.
The skin is thin and slightly bumpy rather than glossy, which means more of the fruit is juice and pulp. Cut one open and the smell is the first giveaway: sharper and more floral than a standard lemon, closer to what you'd expect from a lime crossed with a mandarin.
That intensity is why a little goes further in cooking. A quarter of a Kaji Nemu in a fish curry or a glass of tea does the job a whole supermarket lemon would otherwise do. It's also why the fruit doesn't travel well over long distances — it bruises and dries out faster once picked, which is part of why it's rarely seen outside the Northeast.
Jul 18, 2026 ·
A Simple Assamese Lemon Pickle You Can Make This Weekend
This is a stripped-down version of a pickle recipe that gets passed around Assamese kitchens more by memory than by measurement. It won't taste identical to what your neighbour makes, and that's normal — every household adjusts it slightly.
Quarter about a kilo of Kaji Nemu lengthwise, rub the pieces with salt and turmeric, and let them sit in a clean glass jar in the sun for two to three days, shaking the jar once a day. This softens the peel and starts the fermentation that gives the pickle its tang.
After that, toast and coarsely crush mustard seeds, fenugreek, and dried red chilli, and stir the mix into the jar along with enough mustard oil to cover the lemon pieces. Seal and leave it in a cool, dark place for at least a week before eating — it keeps improving for months if the pieces stay submerged in oil.
Jul 15, 2026 ·
From the Orchard to Your Door: How We Keep Lemons Fresh in Transit
Because Kaji Nemu bruises and dries out faster than a thick-skinned lemon, the usual rules of citrus logistics — cold storage, waxing, weeks in transit — don't really apply here. Instead, the fruit is picked early in the morning while it's still cool, sorted by hand the same day, and packed in ventilated crates rather than sealed bags.
Bulk orders for restaurants and retailers go out within a day of picking. Individual home orders placed through the site or over WhatsApp are batched and dispatched on the next available run, usually within one to two days depending on the delivery area.
It's a smaller-scale, slower-tech way of doing things than a large citrus supplier would use, but it's the only way we've found to get the fruit to a kitchen while it still smells like it did on the tree.
