Founded in 2025 by Dhiraj Bhandari, Zangti retails high quality produce native to the Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh. While Kinnaur is typically renowned for its golden apples, Dhiraj, who belongs to the local Kinnaura tribe, puts the spotlight on lesser-known ingredients like apricots, black cumin, and Kinnauri rajma that are grown without any chemical inputs on their family farm in the Kanahi village, located in the Sangla Valley. Zangti—which means ‘golden water’ in Kinnauri, alluding to the Sutlej River that flows through Kinnaur—also sources their produce from local farmers, and self-help groups (SHGs) run by women.
Their current range of offerings includes pantry staples like rajma, black cumin, and jau sattu (barley flour); dried fruits like almonds, chilgoza (pine nuts), seabuckthorn berries; oils made from apricot and apricot kernels; chips made from Royal apples and persimmon; and a homemade ginger candy. These are sold online and at a store in the village of Karchham in Kinnaur.
At present, Zangti sources ingredients from around 110 farmers in the region, all of whom grow their produce without any chemical inputs and harvest it in small batches.
The Locavore Bite
TL Bite offers a glimpse into how a partner producer runs their operations, and reflects their core principles and values. The idea is to provide insights into their practices and highlight their positive efforts descriptively. We have identified seven key areas of assessment – origin and source of ingredients, composition and integrity of the products, workforce policies, production practices, community-related initiatives, approach towards preserving or celebrating traditional knowledge and the materials used in packaging. While this assessment may not be entirely comprehensive, we hope it helps you make an informed decision about why you might want to support them, and the ways in which to do so.
The information below offers you a snapshot of where Zangti stands on these parameters. We have put this together based on several rounds of conversations with Dhiraj Bhandari. Click on a piece of the pie below to find out more.
Why We Love Zangti
- Spotlighting native produce of Kinnaur: Zangti retails GI-tagged gutti ka tel (apricot kernel oil) and kala jeera (black cumin). Geographical Indication tags, or GI tags, identify a product as originating from a particular place, and possessing certain qualities because of its provenance. Zangti’s apricot oil—extracted from the kernels of the wild apricot grown on their family orchards spanning 4.85 acres—is used as a substitute for ghee across homes in Kinnaur. The oil is traditionally made by first separating the flesh from the kernels. The fruit is either eaten or is dried, while the kernels are ground into a paste which is cold-pressed using a mortar and pestle to obtain the oil. Kala jeera is grown at high altitudes in the Shong village of the Sangla Valley, and is harvested by hand in the summer months. Once the flowers are in bloom, they are hand-picked and dried in the sun on rooftops. These plants are then threshed to procure the seeds to give us kala jeera.
- Hand-crafted products: To ensure quality, Zangti processes all raw ingredients by hand. For instance, they source pine cones—native to Kinnaur—from high altitude forests up to 2,000 metres. These cones are dried in the sun and then opened by hand to extract the seeds or pine nuts. The seeds are sorted and cleaned by hand, and then stored in a cool, dark space to preserve their freshness. Similarly, Zangti’s barley sattu, made from locally grown barley, is harvested, cleaned, and sorted by hand. The grains are roasted and ground in a ‘gharat’—a traditional Himalayan water mill—which grinds the barley at a slow pace to generate minimal heat. This helps keep the flavours intact.
- Working with small-batch, seasonal harvests: To avoid wastage and maintain freshness, Zangti sources and harvests in small batches, depending on the season and produce available. The harvest season in Kinnaur typically begins in June, marked by the harvest of kala jeera. Wild apricots are harvested in late July, followed by Kinnauri apples in August—depending on the altitude at which they’re grown—and pine nuts in October and November.
Many of the ingredients you work with remain relatively unknown outside Kinnaur. Why do you think it is important to create a market for these native foods?
“If there is no market for crops like kala jeera, chilgoza (pine nuts), or traditional jau (barley), the next generation will stop harvesting them. By creating a demand for these products, we ensure that such traditional ingredients don’t die out.
The topography of Kinnaur is beautiful but it is also harsh, with limited job opportunities. When we build a steady market for Zangti’s products, we can also create employment for the locals. We can give our farmers a good price for produce that is not typically commercially cultivated.”
— Dhiraj Bhandari, founder of Zangti
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How to Buy
If you would like to learn more about Zangti, or try their products, check out their catalogue. If you’re interested in supporting them in other ways, please contact us at connect@thelocavore.in.
At The Locavore, we strive to keep the practices of a producer transparent and honest across all forms of partnerships.
