देहरादून में गढ़वाल और कुमाऊँ के गाँवों का स्वाद, एक ही जगह।
Dehradun is in Uttarakhand, but it is a valley city, and the produce of the high villages does not always reach its markets. For families with roots in Tehri, Pauri, Chamoli or Uttarkashi, the taste of what grows up there is not easily replaced.
This site puts you in touch with shops from across Garhwal and Kumaon at once: rajma from the high villages, bhatt and gahat from the terraces, buransh sharbat in spring, Almora bal mithai, and ghee from households that still keep animals. Each product page names the shop and where it is. Orders go straight to the shop, which packs and sends them, and cash on delivery is available where the shop offers it.
In Garhwal and Kumaon alike, Makar Sankranti is Uttarayani, and in Kumaoni homes it is Ghughutiya, when ghughute are fried from flour and jaggery and strung for the children. Harela comes in mid-July, when the seven-grain sprouts sown ten days earlier are cut and placed on family members' heads. Dehradun marks both, with Uttarayani melas in January and Harela tree planting in July.
Dehradun's monsoon is long and very wet. From July to September, keep flours in the fridge, keep dals in closed containers and sun them on a clear day, and keep loon and spices in glass jars with tight lids. Winters are cool enough that ghee sets firm and honey crystallises; both are normal.