Our passion and expertise for cocoa culture give us the opportunity to travel to discover new terroirs and fabulous Bean-to-Bar producers. The last trip of 2024 took us to India, a fabulous exploration of flavors from Mumbai to Kerala, where cocoa is finding a new place in this wonderful spice granary.
To learn more about the history of cocoa, you can read our article on the history of cocoa in India. In this article, we explore the tastes and flavors and the rise of Bean-to-Bar.
Local flavors
When we think of India and its plantations, it's hard to imagine cocoa amidst cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, curry leaves, and other spices. Indeed, Indian cocoa represents only 1% of world production and is mainly intended for the local market.
For this reason, some local tastings with artisan chocolatiers are out of the ordinary! First, we noted the absence of 100% dark chocolate, which did not suit local habits. It was even rare to find bars between 80% and 90%, with local artisans favoring 70% Bean-to-Bar dark chocolate.
The second specific feature is the multitude of inclusions of local products by artisan chocolatiers. An incredible diversity of bars offers chocolate with dates, raisins, almonds, and coffee! A true experimentation that brings a breath of fresh air and freedom to chocolate offerings.
The rise of Bean-to-Bar in India
The specificity of India's Forastero cocoa is the celebration of emblematic terroirs such as the Idukki hills of Kerala and their plantations where cocoa trees grow in harmony with all other crops. The richness and complexity of its flavors have earned it multiple awards, bringing new floral flavors to aromatic cocoa.
Artisanal chocolate is thus booming, driven by Soklet ("chocolate" in Tamil), a family business run by brothers-in-law Harish Manoj Kumar and Karthikeyan Palansiwamy and their wives Rahti and Sajini. They have used their passion to produce India's first and only tree-to-bar chocolate.
But the highlight of our trip is a brand new artisan chocolatier: Subko Cacao. Each bar pays tribute to a unique farm in Kerala. They have leveraged their experience in artisanal coffee to offer delicious chocolate and stunning experimental bars! A wonderful team surrounds this project, which we hope to introduce to you soon with its polished textures and design. We can also mention the Indian artisans of The Whole Truth or La Folie, who offer respectful and natural work without emulsifiers.
This Bean-to-Bar movement remains a niche, and in the future, we hope that cocoa cultivation in India will move increasingly towards smaller, more equitable practices (for people and the planet) as demand for artisanal chocolate grows. With its deeply rooted culinary culture, we look forward to seeing how creative Indian cocoa production will become.
Comments