Nestled beneath the majestic coconut palms of Anamalai Estate in Southern India is cacao that demands attention with multiple layers of exuberant flavours, warm spices and an irresistibly vivacious personality.
While Anamalai Estate, Tamil Nadu, India delivers intertwined layers of exotic spice, intoxicating night blossoms and a lingering citrus tang, it’s simply the cacao’s origin talking – plus organic cane sugar and our obsession for preserving the flavours of provenance.
And because your senses are unique, you may discover characters and aromas others may not – that’s the magic of Foundry Chocolate.
From the 2022 vintage. Please note the batch number you receive will differ from the one pictured.
Ingredients: Cacao Beans & Organic Cane Sugar. No added cacao butter, lecithin or vanilla.
Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegan and 100% Plant Based.
Origin Information:
Anamalai Estate is located in the scenic Anamalai foothills, near the town of Pollachi in Tamil Nadu state, adjacent to the Western Ghats, an ancient mountain range starting at the southwest of India. The region is famous throughput India for its high quality coconuts, with the growing of cacao a recent development, pioneered by Harish Manoj and Karthi Palaniswamy, who own and operate Anamalai Estate.
The Estate is made up of four plots joined by a central farm house. The plots are interplanted with cacao, coconut, nutmeg and pepper to diversify and keep the land healthy. Once the pods are harvested they are taken to the farm house and patio for cracking, fermenting and drying. The cacao is fermented in 5 tiers of wood boxes and sun dried on raised beds.
Harish and Karthi manage their water use with drip irrigation and keep a small herd of cows to help with the weeding and manure compost. All their cultivation decisions are made on site using principles of permaculture and aquaponics, as well as Korean natural farming techniques.
While the majority of the harvest is processed for export, a small portion goes to Harish and Karthi’s local line of bean to bar chocolates, which they are producing to keep up with India’s growing demand for craft chocolate.
