The tag line is true in more ways than one, Amul butter is not just a taste that is loved by India, it’s actually a taste that is derived from India and its traditional dahi butter, or makhan, as it is better known. In this episode, Vikram Doctor talks Amul and its battle with Polson’s, a dairy brand that was started by a Parsi named Pestonjee Eduljee. Pestonjee was known for pioneering the dairy business in Anand, the same town in Gujarat where Amul came up in 1946.
Polson’s may have gone out of business, but it has fans till this day. In this episode of The Real Food Podcast, Vikram talks to Shapur Irani, a 64-year-old Parsi gent who has been involved in Mumbai’s hospitality industry for several years, and who still remembers the taste of Polson’s butter. He describes Polson’s as rich and just a little salty – but wait, that sounds exactly like how you’d describe Amul butter today, right? Well, Amul may have had better business and marketing strategies that helped it beat Polson’s, but its butter actually mimics the taste of Polson’s, which, as Vikram explains, is due to the addition of a natural chemical called diacetyl. This gives Amul a taste that is cheesy, tart and salty, which are all qualities that are associated with the traditional Indian makhan.