Paul and Mike, an artisanal chocolate model primarily based in Kerala, is the primary Indian model to have come this far
Paul and Mike, an artisanal Kerala-based ‘bean to bar’ chocolate maker is savouring the style of success. It has develop into the primary Indian firm to win a silver within the Worldwide Chocolate Awards (2020-2021 world remaining) for its ‘64 P.c Darkish Sichuan Pepper and Orange Peel Vegan Chocolate’.
“We’ve been experimenting with flavours and this specific variant was focused on the Chinese language market. As Sichuan pepper is broadly utilized in Chinese language and South-East Asian delicacies, we thought this variant could be ideally suited for his or her palette. The chocolate is vegan. “Candied orange peel is used so as to add texture,” explains Vikas Temani, enterprise head and founding father of Paul and Mike.
Vikas Temani, founder and enterprise head of Paul and Mike, artisanal candies from Kerala
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Paul and Mike launched the award-winning chocolate in Might 2019. When firm executives visited the Worldwide Chocolate truthful in Shanghai in December 2019, they launched this specific selection and it was bought out inside days. They discovered that the hot-and-sweet mix was doing properly within the Indian market too.
“The chocolate has warmth and sweetness. It produces a tingling sensation on the tongue and folks get pleasure from that. A bar It prices ₹250. Proper from inception, our thought was to promote fantastic, artisanal chocolate at reasonably priced costs. Even mass produced standard European manufacturers price extra,” Vikas says.
Paul and Mike, artisanal candies from Kerala, have flavours which might be standard in India equivalent to thandai, mango and custard apple
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The ‘bean to bar’ chocolate makers have been profitable bronze awards on the Asia Pacific finals and had been sending their product to the world finals for the final two years.
What’s within the identify
The identify of the model has an fascinating story behind it. High quality flavour cocoa comes from South America whereas Africa is the most important producer of bulk grade cocoa. To grasp the farming and fermentation of fantastic cocoa, a group had visited a couple of South American international locations about 4 years in the past.
Paul and Mike, artisanal candies from Kerala, is a ‘bean to bar’ firm that sources cocoa from choose farmers in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh
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“We met a number of farmers and fermenters there and so they gave us the arrogance that Kerala could be ideally suited to develop fantastic cocoa. Amongst them had been Paul and Mike, two pleasant farmers who went out of the best way to assist us perceive the method and methods to get the most effective from the cocoa beans. We determined to call the model ‘Paul and Mike’ of their honour. Furthermore, buyer suggestions proved that the identify struck a chord with them,” says Vikas.
Cocoa is dried and fermented on Paul And Mike’s farms in Kochi and Coimbatore. As well as, moist cocoa is sourced from choose farmers in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and solely actual fruits, nuts, spices and floral distillates are used within the candies. “Since we’re backed by Synthite, a pure meals substances firm, we get the most effective spices and pure extracts for our candies.”
41 P.c High quality Milk Chocolate with Indian Model Thandai, a spread from Paul and Mike, artisanal candies from Kerala
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Paul and Mike even have all kinds of flavours for the Indian shopper equivalent to Indian Model Thandai, Peppermint Gelato, Sitaphal (custard apple), Jamun (java plum), Alphonso Mango and so forth.
“Jaggery, as an example, is sourced from two brothers in Pune who approached us for brand new choices in jaggery. They wished to know if we might develop a chocolate with jaggery. In the identical approach, we determined that we might use Indian fruits equivalent to jamun, mango, custard apple, and rasbhari (golden berry) as an alternative of blueberry, cranberry and so forth. Actually, for a lot of Indian prospects, these had been the primary variants of Paul and Mike that they purchased. Thandai, which is standard in North India, reached the market throughout Holi final 12 months and was an enormous success,” says Vikas.
The three-year outdated firm has 36 types of candies available in the market and is planning to widen the patron base of the model with 100 varieties this 12 months.