Manam Chocolate Factory, Hyderabad
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As in 2023
Mohua Das, Sep 11, 2023: The Times of India
Once you push past the bewitching sight of this new chocolaterie in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills — its facade shaped like a colossal chocolate bar and a cascading wall of liquid cocoa — a deeper story emerges. Of cacao groves and the myriad farmers, pod breakers, fermenters and artisans who have shaped this new craft chocolate brand Manam, meaning ‘we’ or ‘us’ in Telugu, as a nod to the brand’s origin.
At the Manam Karkhana, a unique workshop-lab-store, a giant screen whisks you to the lush West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, the largest cacao growing region in India, according to the Directorate of Cashewnut and Cocoa Development. Indigenous trees and leaves have been channelled into the architecture, clay miniatures and a sweeping mural of cacao farmers dignify the space, while some chocolate bars have a QR code on the pack that allows you to trace the chain of creation to its very source.
Like Manam, craft chocolate brands like Huraco and Soklet are also empowering farmers with renewed recognition and respect. For customers, it’s a reminder that chocolate’s origin isn’t the fridge.
Take for instance, Manam’s ‘Farm Tablet No.3,’ a full-bodied 68% dark chocolate with bold honey and fruit notes, emblazoned with farmer Guduri Venkata Sivarama Prasad’s name. The QR code takes you to his plantation in Tadikalapudi village in the West Godavari district where his cacao trees grow amidst a canopy intercropped with coconut, banana, pepper and arecanut and also chronicles its harvest, slow-drying, sorting, weighing and labelling before it takes centrestage at the upscale Karkhana. At least three tablets have been dedicated to the farmer whose plantation the cacao was harvested from.
Prasad’s face lights up when discussing the chocolate bar christened in his honour. The 63-year-old fourth-generation farmer, who traded engineering for cacao, says it transcends commerce. “It inspires me to take care of the quality of my produce but there is also a sense of pride, a moral boost. It’s not like the anonymity of corporate racks where my organic beans are lost,” says Prasad, who has more than 20 acres of cacao plantation. “It wasn’t just a marketing ploy but an authentic attempt to forge a community where every participant — from farmer to consumer— shares a connection,” says Chaitanya Muppala, founder of Manam. Rallying more than 100 cacao farmers, he transformed a 70-year-old tobacco warehouse into a cacao fermentary, establishing ‘Distinct Origins’, Manam’s parent company, to spotlight West Godavari as a global hub for fine flavour cacao beans. His model’s strength became evident as more farmers, once in an industrial system, joined the craft value chain. BV Rao’s cacao cultivated in Gangannagudem finds its way to diverse Manam Chocolate creations. “In the past, we’d sell to industrial chocolate makers at Rs 180 per kilo. After partnering with Distinct Origins, I’ve learned improved fermentation and slow-drying techniques and now sell at Rs 250 per kilo. We’re also able to attract more labourers with better wages,” says the 62-year-old.
Thankachan Chempotty introduced cacao to his 22-acre Chempotty Estate near Mysore in 2015 but the shift to craft chocolate was made three years ago. It led to fine flavour beans and their own craft chocolate, Huraco, which spotlights the farmer/grower connection. “Our cacao beans are sourced from our own estate and we share this journey — day-to-day farming practices, harvest festivals, chocolate making, and engagement with various farmer’s markets — through social media,” says George, Thankachan Chempotty’s son. Chempotty’s cacao harvest festivals invite enthusiasts to explore their farm, engage in pulp and beans extraction, create cacao ladoos, and ends with a Mayan-inspired cacao ceremony.
Then there is the Indian Cacao and Craft Chocolate Festival — initiated by Patricia Cosma, a chocolate consultant from Romania, and Ketaki Churi, a Mumbai-based chocolate maker — which is helping bridge the gap between farmers, chocolate makers and consumers.
The emphasis on local identity and origin of artisanal chocolate brands resonates with patrons, agrees Karthikeyan Palaniswamy, founder of ‘Soklet ’, a moniker derived from the Tamil word for chocolate. Inducting local tribal villagers into their workforce has meant they can offer “transparency and traceability” right back to the farm gate.
Intercropping techniques used by farmers influence craft chocolate flavours, notes chef Ruby Islam of Manam. “Tasting notes of passion fruit or even bananas, pepper and pineapple that the cacao fruit was intercropped with inspired me to fine-tune flavours while indigenous method of incorporating fruit pulps of bananas and jackfruit into the fermentation process resulted in unique flavour profiles,” says Islam.
Nitin Chordia, co-founder of Cocoashala, a bean to bar training and incubation centre in Chennai, feels “true collaboration” is still a work in progress. “Many bean-to-bar makers visit farms across South India for social media content but add little value,” says Chordia. “We’re currently working with the government to establish long-term buyer relationships with farmers,” he adds.
