Shashi Bahuguna Raturi of Uttarakhand started ‘Namakwali’ to spread the taste of the mountains across the country, through which she took ‘Pisyu Loon’ i.e. mountain salt grinded on cobblestones to the world and made it a brand.
While we are moving away from the taste of natural salt, on the other hand, some women of Uttarakhand are taking the ‘Pisyu Loon’ of the mountains to people across the country. This is an attempt to save their culture and pass it on to the coming generations and make themselves self-reliant.
Keeping up with the changing traditions of the mountains, Shashi Bahuguna Raturi of Uttarakhand started a brand named ‘Namakwali’ in 2018 to take forward his family’s legacy and introduce the age-old ‘Pisyu Loon’ salt to the nation.
This salt, prepared by mixing Himalayan herbs, is prepared by grinding it on a colander. This salt is prepared with different flavors like ginger, garlic, hemp etc. Today 10 to 12 women are associated with the brand Namakwali and every month around 30 to 40 kg of salt is being sold across the country. Along with this, they also sell traditional spices and pulses here.
The Better India Shashi said that she has been doing social work since 1982 by joining many women’s groups. One of his groups also works for the culture of Uttarakhand. The women of this group often brought ground salt by hand. Shashi was very happy that these women are still working so hard to keep this age-old tradition alive.
So she thought of making a beginning through Instagram to give recognition to the talent of these women. People liked his efforts on social media. In this way, the brand named Namakwali started from Shashi’s thinking.
What is special in this salt?
The specialty of Pisyu Loon is that apart from being tasty, it is also good for health. Rock salt along with hill herbs and traditional spices are used in this. You can eat it with salad, with fruits, in vegetables and even directly with bread. It is said that if Pisyu is salty, then the hills do not even need vegetables along with bread.
After salt, now Shashi and his team are working on other things as well. After salt, he has started working on turmeric. By grinding natural turmeric grown in the mountains in traditional ways, she is delivering it to the customers. Similarly, sometime back they have also started collecting wild honey. Through the Namakwali initiative, women are gradually being linked to more things, so that rural self-employment can be promoted.
To know more about Namakwali you can visit them Instagram You can contact on
Editing: Archana Dubey
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