Morning has broken, and Iso’bel Rodrigues,steps out of her house, looking forward to the end of day, when she can returnand step into her very own kitchen. A space where she produces somethingremarkable, which has never been tapped before, a pickle made out of ‘bora’.
“When I first started out, it was only ahobby. I never expected to grow like this” says the woman known amongst closecircles as ‘Borabelle’. Nine years ago, when she sought employment with theNazareth family in Altinho, she got more than she ever bargained for; in thebest way possible. Not only did she gain a special place in the family, butalso learned the trade secrets that made her a prominent member of thepreserved food industry.
An all-round home maker, Iso’bel stillretains her employment with the Nazareth’s while making her famous bora pickle in her spare time. As theseason for the indigenous berry begins at the end of the year, she spends allof December, January, and February hunting for the choicest berries. While,there are bad pennies that turn up consistently, she spends the bulk of hertime sorting the good from the bad, and those that make the grade are thencured and pickled.
She ensures that the pickle is a perfectblend of sweet, spicy, and tangy and has that perfect Goan zing to it. And itis not something that has gone unnoticed either. With sales on the rise, she shedslight on her clientele. “The bulk of what I produce is sent abroad, carried bypeople for their friends and relatives. We sell as much as 20 kilos of pickleto one family, which makes its way to the United Kingdom, United States and theMiddle East.”
Aided by her husband Andrew, with theirthree children chipping in from time to time, Borabelle’s pickle enterprise isa textbook family affair. It has a fair helping of love which perhaps sums up hersuccess today.
