Indian Craft Chocolate Geared for the World of Fine Chocolates

MANAM CHOCOLATE, THE BRAINCHILD OF CHAITANYA MUPPALA IS MODELLED AS A COLLECTIVE OF PASSIONATE CRAFTSPEOPLE, FARMERS, FERMENTERS, CHOCOLATE MAKERS, CHOCOLATIERS, AND STORYTELLERS, UNITED TO USHER IN A NEW ERA OF INDIAN CRAFT CHOCOLATE

- RAJESHWARI KALYANAM

Specially crafted 68 percent dark chocolate made with Cacao farmed by GVS Prasad, an engineer turned organic farmer from Tadikalapudi village of West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh State is what Manam Chocolate called a Farm Tablet No 3. That the cacao is grown alongside areca nut, long pepper and banana and box fermented in a specially developed five-step process goes through drying alternately between sun and shade before reaching the Manam factory explains the flavour notes.

The Manam Chocolate Factory or Karkhana in the local language is in Hyderabad where the Cacao beans are gently roasted, and refined in special Italian ball mills along with Cacao butter extracted from the same beans before being conched for days to bring in the maximum desired texture. The whole process is aimed at mellowing down the bitterness, retaining the fine flavours - in this case fruity and making the chocolate creamy and chocolaty.

A minute trivia in this story is that the farmer in question GVS Prasad is the first farmer to associate with brand Manam and you see his mini figurine on display as a mark of respect at the factory cum experiential centre on Road No 12, Banjara Hills.