Bean-to-Bar Chocolates with Homegrown Ingredients from Earth Loaf

Mysore-based company Earth Loaf offers vegan, bean-to-bar chocolates with ingredients sourced from South India and in unusual flavour pairings. We can now never reach out for store-bought, sugar-loaded, commercial chocolates again.

Chocolatiers and co-owners David Belo and Angelica Anagnostou {who are former tastemakers and have a background in London’s F&B industry} moved to Mysore to learn yoga but never really left. In October 2014, they launched Earth Loaf, a company that offers chocolate bars {72 per cent Dark Chocolate, Cacao Nib and Palmyra Sugar, Gondhoraj & Apricot and Smoked Salt & Almond Chocolate bar}, Chocolate Bonbons {available in Chai Masala and Tiramisu Coffee flavours} and Cacao tea and infusions {raw cacao infusions and one in combination with long leaf Assam tea}. A separate section called Life Foods also offers raw cacao nibs, broken and de-husked, which you can sprinkle on cereals, salads and smoothies.

The chocolates are vegan and are made of palmyra sugar and organic South Indian cacao beans. All cacao butters, nibs and liquors are made by the duo in house.

The 72 per cent chocolate bar dusted with palmyra sugar is our go-to bar. Not too sweet, the chocolate comes with a nice fruity and slightly fermented aftertaste. The salt sprinkled generously on the Smoked Salt & Almond Chocolate bar has been smoked in cacao husks and comes paired with nutty, almonds in a 72 per cent chocolate bar. But the Gondhoraj and Apricot wins hands down because of the dried lemon peel {Gondhoraj is an aromatic lemon used in Bengal}, powdered and used along with crunchy apricot kernels and bits of the fruit as well. All their chocolates will not make you miss sugar are almost alcoholic because of it being completely unprocessed. We have also loved drinking their Assam tea infusion, which gives the regular cuppa a rich, nutty texture and aroma.

Price: INR 190 upwards