Founded in 2016 by Dharmishtha Goenka, Praakritik is a Mumbai-based brand sourcing produce from farmers across India who do not use any pesticides or chemical inputs for cultivation. In their initial years, Praakritik—which means ‘of the nature’ in Hindi—regularly visited farms to understand the region’s climate and topography, and identify farmer producer organisations (FPOs) growing produce without any chemicals. Their products include a range of native ghee varieties; cold-pressed oils; chemical-free pantry staples like flours, dal, pulses, rice; natural sweeteners like honey, jaggery, and coconut sugar; and spices.
Praakritik currently works with more than 750 farmers across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Uttarakhand. They regularly visit farms to check the soil for any harmful pesticides or fertilisers. Given their philosophy of sourcing locally grown ingredients, they procure raw honey from tribal communities in Jharkhand, khapli atta from Karnataka, coconut oil from Tamil Nadu, and moringa from Gujarat, to name a few.
Along with working with organic-certified farmer groups, Praakritik also works with six gaushalas across the country to procure ghee that is obtained from the milk of native breeds of cows. Praakritik began its operations by supporting a gaushala in Nadiad, Gujarat. Traditionally, they would only sell milk, but Praakirik established a market by procuring hand-churned ghee from the milk obtained from Gir cows.
To ensure quality of their products, Praakritik partners with an NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accredited laboratory in Mumbai.
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 Praakritik stands on these parameters. We have put this together based on several rounds of conversations with Dharmishtha Goenka. Click on a piece of the pie below to find out more.
Why We Love Praakritik
- Locally sourced ghee from native breeds of cows: In 2025, Praakritik launched their online Ghee Store which features six different types of ghee made from the milk of native cow breeds—Badri in Uttarakhand, Hallikar in Karnataka, Kankrej in Gujarat, and Tharparkar in Rajasthan. They work closely with local communities who ensure that the cows graze freely on native varieties of plants. They also churn the ghee by hand at the gaushalas. Each variety of ghee has a distinct flavour profile, depending on what the cows graze on. For instance, Badri cow ghee is herbaceous, Hallikar cow ghee is smoky, Tharparkar cow ghee is light and creamy, and Kankrej cow ghee is rich and aromatic.
- Spotlighting traditional production practices: Praakritik’s ghee is made using the ‘bilona’ method—here, the milk is converted into curd, which is then churned by hand to obtain butter. The butter is simmered on low heat which results in ghee. To make cold-pressed sesame and sunflower oils, they employ the ‘kachi ghani’ method—oil seeds are stone crushed at low temperatures without external heat to preserve natural nutrients. Attas and spices are stone-ground.
- Maintaining close relationships with farmer groups: Praakritik sources directly from farmer producer organisations; they regularly visit their farms and help them establish market linkages for their produce. For example, in 2017, Praakritik started by sourcing 500 kilograms of khapli wheat from a group of 20-25 farmers in Maharashtra. Over the years, this network has grown to include over 400 farmers who sow khapli wheat—in October, after the monsoon—depending on Praakritik’s requirements, who then procure the entire harvest. Praakritik also continues to partner with the first gaushala they supported; it has now relocated from Nadiad, Gujarat to Pune, Maharashtra. Typically, these communities would only retail milk to large dairies, but with Praakritik they also make and sell ghee.
How does the use of traditional production methods impact the quality and flavour of products? Could you explain with examples?
“At Praakritik, we consciously choose traditional methods such as cold-pressing our oils, cold-grinding our spices, stone-ground attas, and preparing bilona ghee through slow churning and gentle simmering. Employing low-heat processes helps preserve the ingredients’ natural nutrients, aroma, and authentic flavour, unlike conventional high-heat processing that can diminish nutritional value.”
—Dharmishtha Goenka, Founder
Products We Recommend
How to Buy
If you would like to learn more about Praakritik, or try their products, check out their website. If you’re interested in supporting them in other ways, please contact us at connect@thelocavore.in.
This is a paid partnership with Praakritik. At The Locavore, we strive to keep the practices of a producer transparent and honest across all forms of partnerships.”
Yashvi Shah is the Senior Partnerships Copywriter at The Locavore. In her free time, she likes creating playlists for her friends, and going on runs.
Gia Alvares is the Partnerships Associate at The Locavore. She is a writer with a background in Economics and Sociology, drawn to work that centres people, stories, and lived experiences.
Editor: Yamini Vijayan
Copy Editor: Khorshed Deboo
