Share
Having a block of chocolate sitting in your refrigerator after a meal or just as a treat while scrolling past the kitchen is the norm. With the greater accessibility, chocolates are present in so many moments of everyday life that people don’t even realise it. Whether you’re sipping hot chocolate on a slightly chilly rainy night, adding a chocolate spread to your croissant, making someone’s day by gifting them a chocolate bar, and so much more.
Recognising its value, World Chocolate Day is commemorated every year on the 7th of July. Celebrating the global event, Slurrp talked to the founders of Punjab’s first bean-to-bar chocolate, Mozimo, Amritanshu Agrawal and Priyanka Gupta. Read on this Slurrp exclusive to learn where they source the cocoa beans, the in-house process of whipping up tempered chocolate, and everything in between.
Inside Mozimo Chocolates, Chandigarh
As a child, I always dreamed of being in a chocolate world. A place where there were houses made of candy, chocolatey rivers, traffic signs made with lollipops, and so on. Believe me when I say that Mozimo Chocolates in Chandigarh made my childhood imagination come to life.
With the barks of chocolates, aesthetically pleasing pralines, and colourful boxes filled with gelato, Mozimo Chocolates welcomes every chocolate lover with a warm hug they never knew they needed. After taking a quick scroll, I sat down at the cosy coffee table with Priyanka Gupta and Amritanshu Agrawal, the brains behind giving Punjab the best of chocolates.
“We conceived the idea of making the best chocolates that one can have,” the entrepreneur couple narrated the conception story. “Hence, the research to develop this idea into reality started.” As a part of their research and to deliver nothing but authentic chocolates, they travelled to Mumbai, Dubai, Italy, Paris, and Switzerland to gather know-how on the making of chocolates.
The research led them to Kerala to get a deeper dive into how India is producing some of the best quality cocoa beans. “After tasting around a few hundred brands, we found the right machinery and equipment, the best quality cocoa beans, and hence we were now equipped to produce the best quality chocolate,” Priyanka Gupta said. “From here started the process of ordering, taking our beans to Italy for evaluation, getting trained in Italy on the machinery, getting a Master Chocolatier by the name of Gabrielle Rinaudo, from Italy, to train our team and finally start the production of the Mozimo Chocolates.”
The Process Of Making Chocolates: Bean-To-Bar
The term "bean-to-bar" is often thrown around, but few truly understand what it involves. For Mozimo, it means control over the entire chocolate-making process. Starting from sourcing cocoa beans to roasting, grinding, refining, moulding, packaging, and storing, everything is done in-house in Chandigarh.
Out of the four major states that produce cocoa beans in India, i.e., Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, Mozimo Chocolates sources its cocoa from Idukki, Kerala. Elaborating on the beans’ subtle fruity taste, Priyanka Gupta says, “We got a good quality bean which is being sourced directly from a farmer, has beautiful characteristics and is nicely fermented.”
Taking me through the chocolate factory that Mozimo has set up on the property's upper floors, Priyanka Gupta explained every step of the process. Here’s how the chocolatiers are producing your favourite treats:
1. You start with good-quality beans; without the best cacao produce, you cannot make good-quality chocolate. So, the beans have to be of the right varietals and grown in the right region under the right conditions.
2. Then, they have to be fermented properly, which is one of the most important parts of making chocolate. The fermentation begins as soon as the cacao pods are harvested and opened. They need to be fermented for a week under the right temperature conditions. Mozimo gets its beans after fermentation.
3. The next important step that plays a key role in developing the flavour of the chocolates is roasting. Priyanka narrates, “We roast our beans at a lower temperature for a longer time so that instead of getting the bitterness of burnt beans, you get to let the quality of the cacao shine.”
4. The next step is cracking and winnowing. Once the bean has been properly roasted, you’d need to break the bean and remove the shell. At this point, what you are left with are the cocoa nibs.
5. Then comes grinding, where a rough paste is made out of the beans. The consistency is similar to chunky peanut butter.
6. Finally comes the step where you actually make chocolate, refining. The cocoa mass is refined and comes down to a size of 15 microns, making smooth chocolate. “Also, till now we have been working only with pure cacao, so if we are making dark chocolate, we add sugar, and if we are making milk chocolate, we add milk,” Priyanka Gupta notes.
7. After this, one of the most essential parts is called conching. The chocolate you have made has to be conched for a day. Since the beans are fermented, the chocolate has an acidic taste. So, they are churned for homogenisation. It's a meticulous process because if you cook it too much, you risk making a very flat chocolate.
8. After conching, the manufacturers cast 10 kg blocks each, and we set them for ageing. Dark chocolate must be aged for at least six weeks, and milk chocolate must be aged for at least two weeks.
9. Once the ageing is done, the blocks are then melted and tempered. Chocolate tempering is the process of heating and cooling chocolate to form a crystalline structure so that you get that satisfying snap when you break a piece of the chocolate.
10. Explaining one of the key characteristics of all Mozimo chocolates, Priyanka elaborates, “The way to identify a properly tempered chocolate is that it has a glossy shine and a smooth surface. Its texture feels firm and breaks with a clean, crisp snap, and it melts in your mouth without any grittiness. It does not melt and stick to your fingers when you touch it.”
11. After tempering, you can mould, add toppings, and enjoy the chocolates.
The Founders’ Favourites At Mozimo Chocolates
While I loved the pralines, Amritanshu shared his favourites, “To be honest, my personal favourite is a bit different. It is our 45% hazelnut chocolate spread. It is 45% roasted hazelnuts, which we roast in the same roaster used to roast the cocoa beans. Then we have chocolate in there, and can you believe it, NO OILS!” He proudly adds, “Our unofficial motto is 'more chocolate, less sugar’. So, it has much less sugar than commercial products and absolutely zero added oils. And even though we call it a spread, in my home, everyone is just eating it with a spoon straight from the jar.”
So, this World Chocolate Day, why don’t you unleash your sweet tooth and head to Mozimo Chocolates? Get a tour, learn about chocolate making while sipping one of the best cappuccinos in town, and go home with a bundle of locally produced chocolates.
Address: SCO 8, Inner Market, 9-D, Sector 9, Chandigarh, 160009
Phone: 01724045414
Timings: 10am-11:30pm
