For the first time an Indian origin chocolate, Earth Loaf, has won top honours at The Guild of Fine Food UK

It may seem like a somewhat outlandish combination. The bitter notes of coffee tempered by the sour-sweetness of pineapple and held together by swirls of gloriously smooth dark chocolate. But the blend works, and very well, if the jury of the prestigious Great Taste awards is to be believed. A Tokai Coffee & Pineapple Chocolate Bar created by the Mysuru-based Earth Loaf Artisan Chocolate has just won this coveted food award.

David Belo, the man behind Earth Loaf, says that an earlier stint as a bartender in the UK helped conceptualise this bizarrely delicious medley. “I knew that the flavours would work very well. This is a reinterpretation of a drink I once made,” says Belo, whose Earth Loaf won not one but two awards this year (the second was for the brand’s 72% Keralan Single Origin Chocolate Bar) with judges proclaiming both chocolates “simply delicious”.

This is the first time Indian origin chocolate has won this award, and Belo admits to being “over the moon” about it. “Winning a great taste award from The Guild of Fine Food UK definitely attributes a certain credibility to what we’re doing, and will only go on to put Indian origin chocolate on the international map, as we expand our retail network,” he says.

Belo wears many hats: food and beverage has festooned most of them. He has worked as a cocktail bartender in London for around a decade, before retraining as a pastry chef. Earth Loaf began as a bakery in London, and while they did do some chocolate confectionery, that was not the primary product.

In 2011, he shut shop and moved to Mysuru, India, with his partner Angelika Anagnostou, who wanted to study Ashtanga yoga there. And they liked it so much that they decided to stay.

When Earth Loaf was started, in 2012, “there weren’t people doing good quality chocolate from Indian cacao,” says Belo. He set out to change that. “Asian cacao, and Indian cacao in particular, tends to be brighter with more acidity and spice, compared to African, which has deeper cocoa notes and is more nutty, or South and Central American which is more fruity and floral,” says Belo.

He tries to retain those flavours by processing the way he does, “cold-processing” the bean instead of roasting it. “We omit the step of roasting our cacao, keep processing temperatures under 55 degrees C, preserving all the enzymes, amino acids and antioxidants naturally found in cacao,” he says. Belo’s version of chocolate is a far cry from commercially available chocolate made from a hodgepodge of cacao beans sourced from all over the country, into which is added plenty of sugar, milk, emulsifier and vegetable fat.

Working closely with farmers to ensure high-quality, single-origin, often single-estate beans (even learning Kannada in the process), Belo also closely monitors the fermentation and drying process. “We’ve got a lot of innovation about to start both at the farms and in the workshop. I think what’s next for us is to go from what’s effectively been a chocolate lab, to a well-grounded cottage industry, with better retail availability both nationally and abroad,” he says.

Belo has a 100% Indian-only sourcing policy: this ensures that not only does the company support agriculture economically, but also helps re-imagine the wealth of ingredients in India. Most of Belo’s chocolates — organic, vegan and lightly sweetened with coconut sugar — are paired with interesting flavours and things unique to the country. Think dried apricots, nuts, gondhoraj lemon and jamun melded into the base chocolate.

Talking about the combinations he chooses, “I’ve chosen unconventional combinations, in part due to my years of mixing cocktails, and the borrowing that comes from that repertoire, but also because all chocolate inclusions historically reflected the produce of the country in question,” he says. Milk chocolate was invented in Switzerland, a big dairy-producing country, for instance, while Ferrero Rocher was invented in Italy, a nation abundant with hazelnuts, “So surely, it’s just as natural for me to season our chocolate with gondhoraj lemon or Ladakhi apricots?” he says.