Amla (Indian Gooseberry)

What is amla?

Amla is the fruit of the Indian gooseberry tree. The fruit is round, pale green to yellow-green, with six faint vertical lines and a hard stone in the centre. It tastes sharply sour and astringent, with a slight sweetness that follows.

In Karnataka it is called nellikayi or nellikai. Fresh amla is a winter fruit in India, so outside the season it is mostly used as powder, pickle or murabba.

Fresh amla or amla powder?

Fresh amla: for eating with salt, juicing, pickling, chutney, nellikayi chitranna and murabba. Buy it in season and use it within the week, or preserve it.

Amla powder: dried amla ground to a fine powder. It keeps for months and is stirred into water, buttermilk or chutney powders when fresh fruit is not available.

How to choose and store amla

Choose fruit that is firm, heavy for its size and evenly pale green, with smooth skin. Leave out fruit with soft patches, brown bruises or a wrinkled skin.

Keep fresh amla in the fridge in a breathable bag and use it within about a week. For longer keeping, cut it into segments and freeze them, sun-dry them, or make pickle or murabba.

Keep amla powder in an airtight jar in a cool, dry place and use a dry spoon.

Ways to use amla

Fresh: cut into segments around the stone and eat with a little salt and chilli powder.

Juice: blend the segments with water and strain. Many people add a little ginger, honey or jaggery to balance the sourness.

Pickle: nellikayi uppinakayi, made with salt, chilli, mustard and oil.

Murabba: whole amla cooked slowly in sugar or jaggery syrup.

Rice: nellikayi chitranna, where grated amla takes the place of lemon.

Chutney: ground with coconut, green chilli and coriander.

Where Organic Mandya's amla comes from

Organic Mandya's fresh amla is sourced directly from farms in Mandya. It is grown without chemical inputs and is lab-tested.