New Delhi, Oct. 3 -- For someone who has been writing on food for over 20 years, it is rather tough to come across an ingredient that is novel or exciting. But one ingredient got me excited last month is mahua flowers. It's not like I got a chance to roam around the forests of Jharkhand or Chhattisgarh. Edible-grade dried mahua flowers are now available in sealed packets, collected straight from the forests. This is one level above farm to plate. It is forest to plate. The beauty of the internet, online marketplaces and brands is that they have brought forest produce to our doorstep.

I opened the packet expecting something vaguely floral. What I got looked like a shrivelled raisin, but it tasted far more complex than that one-note sweetn...