Chennai city’s young chocolatiers.. Oragadam

From establishing a customer base and marketing their brands to experimenting with flavours, they have done it all

Who doesn’t love chocolates? It is this love that has made many young people in the city take up chocolate confectionery as a full-time career. From establishing a customer base, creating an online presence to experimenting with flavours, young chocolatiers in the city have done it all.

Two years ago, 25-year-old S.S.S. Keshav Krishna, a graduate in hotel management, started ‘Cheers Chocolates’ (www.cheerschoco lates.com) to bring the flavour of Belgian chocolates to Chennai.

“There is a huge market for chocolate confectionery in the city,” he says.

Many like him have not set up outlets to market their chocolates. They work as and when they get orders. “I have regular clients, including corporate companies. One of my biggest orders was for 8,000 handmade truffles for a company during Deepavali,” he says.

Keshav’s chocolate pralines, which are moulded chocolates with different types of fillings, are popular with his clients. Being a cricketer worked to his advantage recently when he got the opportunity to share his creations with Indian cricket captain M.S. Dhoni.

Sathya Karuppiah (35), who has an MBA in finance, quit her job to launch ‘Choco Punch’ (http://choco punchchocabloc.blogspot. com/) with her friend Lakshmi Venkatesan, four years ago. Their drive to do something on their own took them to the world of chocolates.

“Lakshmi’s father had learnt to make chocolates from a friend in Ooty. We learned the basics from him and improvised,” says Sathya.

They get orders mostly during weddings, special occasions and the festive season. Almond cracker and ‘choco crunchees’ are their specialities. The duo has taken to online forums to further their venture.

“We have a blog. We take online orders and also through our contacts on WhatsApp,” she says. They also conduct half-day workshops in chocolate making for beginners.

Oragadam, which was once a barren swathe of land, is aiming to become the Detroit of the State.

It is launching new options for entertainment to satisfy the needs of its growing population.

The small village sandwiched between Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram is gaining from both infrastructure development and residential real estate growth because of the numerous automobile and automobile-related industries there.

World-renowned companies like Daimler, Nissan, Komatsu, Apollo Tyres and Royal Enfield have brought in a multi-cultural working population to Oragadam.

Realtor S. Mohan says the dry region that had few buyers a few years ago, has become a gold mine after the State government marked the place as an industrial zone.

A ground measuring 2,400 sq. ft. that was sold for Rs. 10,000, some 10 years ago, is now valued between Rs. eight lakh and Rs. 15 lakh.

Mr. Mohan says the industrial zone is keeping pace with infrastructure development but lacks entertainment facilities like cinema houses or malls.

Siddarth, who works in a private firm in Oragadam, echoes Mohan’s views. He says he avails of the in-house sports facilities available in some multi-storeyed residential facilities, for lack of better options.

Residents of the locality, strategically located between two national highways (NH 4 and NH 45), continue to depend on the city for their leisure and entertainments needs.

(Reporting by Serena Josephine M. and R. Srikanth)

Aurovillians Jane Mason and Fabien Bontems offer chocolate minus preservatives
JANE Mason’s tryst with chocolate began four years ago in Indonesia, when she was training in Bali to be a raw food chef. She ended up studying Ecolo chocolate making and now the 34-year-old specialises in bean-to-bar organic vegan chocolates and is retailing in Auroville and at Promenade in Pondicherry.  “My partner Fabien Bontems and I have been focussing on the Indian cacao market for about one and a half years, trying to source good beans and build relationships with farmers here,’’ says Mason, adding, ‘‘Most chocolate makers buy readymade chocolate which they re-melt and then mould or add ingredients to. We source the cacao beans directly from the farmers (I currently work with two farms in India and one in Ecuador), then sort, clean, roast, crack, winnow, grind, conch, age, temper and mould the chocolate in our factory in Auorville. So you can be sure that when you eat one of our bars it is exactly what it says it is. There are no preservatives or chemicals added and it is made with loads of love and attention.”
The true vegan
Is there a market for vegan chocolates?  “Sometimes I worry that the word scares people away,  but any good dark chocolate is actually vegan. Cacao is a super food and has lots of health promoting properties, so I try to keep the chocolate as close to the natural state as possible,’’ she shares. Most of the chocolate is dark, with no milk and minimal sugar. Plus there are sweet er options for those who don’t fancy dark chocolates. I am also working on a coconut milk flavour. Diabetes is a big problem in India so I am working on a sugar-free bar using natural sweeteners too,” says the yoga enthusiast.
Pinch of sea salt
The current favourites are their 75 per cent bittersweet dark bar and 75 per cent zesty orange bar. “Last week, I finished a limited-edition 65 per cent bar and I have plans for five regular flavours, to be released soon. I am also working on a bon bon range,” says the Australian, who came to Auroville three years ago.  “One of my favourite things to do is chocolate tasting, with beans from all around the world. Look out for our dark chocolate with sea salt that is coming soon,” she concludes. 40 grams priced from `100. Details: 8489197701

Easy to consume on the go, energy bars can fuel your workouts and office hours. Our pick of the city’s best

Perfect for the busy but health consious, these compact bars promise to up your energy and your nutrition level.  However, off-the-shelf nutrition bars raise concerns of preservatives and hidden sugars. So we thought we’d track down products that pack in all the goodness, and are peppered with heartening terms like gluten-free, no sugar and preservative free.

Breakfast in a bar
A weekend in Pondicherry need not necessarily mean pigging out on rich food. The cafe at Auroville’s visitor’s centre has a bunch of healthy options. Like Tamar Azulay’s gluten-free bars. “I bake an oats-sorghum flour bar that is chockfull of nuts, seeds, raisins, dates, apricots, dried coconut powder, and a little bit of chocolate—as we shouldn’t take health too seriously,” says the Aurovillian, who is originally from South Africa. Up next at her bakery: a jumbo-sized (100g) muesli cookie that will be a full meal in itself. `40 per bar.
Shelf life: 10 days. Details:  facebook.com/pages/Tamarind-bakery
Protein punch
Taj Coromandel may be an unlikely place to go for your protein fix, but their granola bars have many fans. Made with corn, soya protein, almonds, raisins, oats and a variety of seeds, the bars are flavoured with cocoa or honey. “It is a very compact source of energy,” says executive chef Alok Anand, adding that it’s “pretty balanced—with proteins, fibre, carbohydrates and vitamins.” They also customise the bars, from flavours to ingredients—with options like walnuts, apricots, figs and dried cranberries. `200 for a 70 gm bar (minimum order of 10 bars). Shelf life: three to five days. Details: 66002827

Quick bite
JoAnne Saldanha bakes two fun yet healthy varieties. Her most popular bar is the flapjack—oats and atta bars with a fruit compote centre (plum and strawberry). Her apricot-seed bars (with sunflower/pumpkin seeds and oats) are another healthy option. “I make sure everything is jam-packed with all the good stuff,” says the home baker. `80 per bar. There is no minimum order. Details: facebook.com/MojoMostlyOrganicByJo

Do the dates
The people at Fabindia had got on to the health wagon years ago. Their date bar with lime and apricot raisin bar are great to have around for those days when you are too busy to fix a snack. Loaded with nutrition and the goodness of dates, organic almonds, honey, raisins, walnuts and more, they come in 30 gm packets. `70 for a bar. Available at most of the Fabindia outlets. Details: 43515208

Burst of flavour
“I have a basic health bar that I make with oats, seeds like flax and sunflower, and dried fruits and nuts. These can then be customised in any way you want,” says home baker, Kuki Ravindran. Popular options include almonds, walnuts, raisins, apricots, dates, figs and currants. “I sweeten the bars with brown sugar, honey or jaggery,” she says, adding that nut butters like peanut and almond are also available. While she has kid-friendly options like chocolate and caramel, for adults, she is going to introduce a batch of new options: cranberry-almond, coconut-apricot and banana nut granola bars. Protein bars will soon be up for sale on her Facebook page, too. `1,200 for a batch (12 large ones or 15 medium). Details: facebook.com/TheKukiJar

Cereal fix
Her apple cinnamon bars have been flying off the shelves at Anna Nagar’s Piece of Cake for years. “Made with fresh apples and an oatmeal-atta base, I make gluten and sugar free varieties, too,” says owner Shalini Padmanabhan. She also makes museli bars — a baked one for adults with dried fruits and nuts like almonds, cashews, raisins and dates, and an unbaked version for children with a mix of cereals like cornflakes, chocos and rice krispies. “I use chocolate to bind the kids’ bars,” says the home baker, adding that she is working on converting the bars into pops for easy snacking. `50 for a bar.
Details: 43500129 / 9940489976

Splendid start
Three years after the launch of their suji-based health mix, Splendid Food Company, city-based catering company, has a new offering — an oats and prunes health bar. “The benefits of oats and prunes are well-known. The bars also have wheat germ, which is good for digestion, and sesame seeds, a great source of calcium,” says Gibran Osman, actor-entrepreneur. Gluten, sugar and preservatives free, the bars will be available in stores like Brown Tree and Nuts ‘n’ Spices this month. `50 for a 45 gm bar. Also available as a box of 24. Details: 9445427566