(February 27, 2024) On his first journey to Goa in 2022, Digvijay Singh noticed a woman selling sherbet as he got off the Chapora Fort. He chose to drink a kokum sherbet, a native Konkan fruit he had never heard of, to relieve his thirst after his exhausting day excursion. After tasting it for the first time, the teenage chocolatier realized that its acidity made it a great match for dark chocolate. He discovered a rose apple, known to the locals as gulab jamun, in Kolkata a few months later. The inhabitant of Udaipur tells Global Indian, “I thought, I know of cranberries, strawberries, or macadamia nuts which may have nothing to do with India, but I know nothing about the fruit that grows in the Konkan belt which is hardly 1000 kilometers from where I live.” With Saraam, a domestic artisanal chocolate business, he brought local berries and fruits into the mainstream of chocolate production as a result of this realization.
Identifying authentic native fruits among alien varieties
Digvijay recognized an opportunity in the frequently disregarded local fruits, as the chocolate industry was nearly overrun with flavors like cranberry, orange, and hazelnut. Since these fruits don’t have a lengthy shelf life, the main problem is that people haven’t made any investments in the supply chain. They are now left to the wild and no longer grown by humans. The 19-year-old who is prepared to alter the rules says, “There are a few collectors who collect and sell them.” Digvijay, whose company sells Kulfi and Orange & Coffee chocolates, continues, “India has long overlooked what’s within, and it’s time that we look inwards.”
But the teenage chocolatier knew that a mixture this bold may cause significant reactions.”I’m not discounting their experience or their opinion, but if you’ve been institutionalized with French culinary school long enough and you’ve seen what works and what’s demanded, it becomes difficult for you to give different options a chance,” Digvijay says. “Some chefs thought it was blasphemous to make such combinations, but to me that suggested the strong personality of the product.” However, as a result of this push and pull, there was a strong pull in the opposite direction, where individuals find these kinds of pairings fascinating.
Ber and Kulfi, which sell far more than coffee and orange flavor, have become their bestsellers in just two years. Digvijay, who began manufacturing chocolate at the age of sixteen, adds, “There are people who are ready to try new flavors out of curiosity and they have already taken the bet by trying a new brand.”
During the pandemic, learning how to make chocolate
Digvijay was eager to begin his “gig” and looked up recession-proof sectors on Google during the pandemic, when everyone was cooped up indoors. It was chocolate that appeared on his screen, aside from edtech. I wanted to try chocolate because I don’t know much about technology and even less about education. I began reading about it and even sampled a number of high-quality chocolates. This made me realize that it can differ greatly from the handmade chocolates that are available in the nation. Saraam, which translates to “essence” in Tamil and Sanskrit, was born out of this concept.
His cousin Mahaveer Singh joined a few months later, and the two of them currently manage the business, which started to take shape with the aid of YouTube lessons. Their greatest learning came from trying and tasting chocolates, which they described as an excellent place to start for novices. “I wouldn’t have put off manufacturing chocolate until after receiving my degree. According to the teenager who spoke with numerous chefs, “I don’t think people should wait for institutional validation to start a venture because any source of learning can be good enough for a start.”
When you ask him if the process of creating chocolate is simple or complicated, he jokes, “Our method is different from Amul’s or Cadbury’s because theirs would be much more standardized and easier because their recipes are set and they have big machines.” A wet stone grinder, a simple Coimbatore idli grinder transformed into a kind of chocolate melanger, is used by small businesses like us. He continues by saying that due to the precision needed, making chocolate on this small scale is quite time-consuming. Because there aren’t many processes to follow, you can make mistakes at many of them, whether it’s roasting or sourcing. Because it contains no additives, it may also be impacted by the smells around it while being stored.
Gaining recognition both in India and overseas
After he suggested the notion of customizing their packaging for marketing, Saraam secured its first order from a car dealership five months after he began learning the craft of chocolate making. “I was aware that we didn’t want to expand on that, but it might be a smart starting point. Digvijay says, “We knew it would be an uphill task to find first customers in a category that is competitive with many similar-looking chocolates in the market.” Saraam received a lot of attention from artisanal chocolate enthusiasts in India and elsewhere, despite being a young company operating out of a basement. “We weren’t prepared to give the NRIs in the US and the UK the kind of attention we received, therefore we weren’t prepared to capitalize on it either. The teenpreneur, who is eager to address the functional and execution issues, says, “We were unable to accommodate the many people who wanted to try it in their cities’ stores.”
In 2023, Saraam sold 20,000 bars of chocolate, with the wedding and holiday seasons accounting for the majority of their sales. “We ship it to a few hotels and sell it online and through a few chosen retailers.” Finding exotic fruits is difficult for the homegrown firm, which receives its cocoa from small farms in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “At Delhi University, we have discovered a few collectors and dehydrators who supply us with the fruits,” says Digvijay, a Philosophy (H) student.
An emerging worldwide brand
Three years into chocolate production, Digvijay has intentions of revolutionising the chocolate market and is keen to develop something in confectionary that comes especially from India. “I believe India has potential as we grow our cacao, and we haven’t even touched the surface.”
Since its founding, Digvijay has viewed Saraam as a worldwide brand. It doesn’t imply that we have stores in 200 countries, but it’s a brand that appeals to people everywhere, and they want to buy it. Despite being underserved in terms of Indian-sourced goods, there are 4.4 million non-resident Indians. The teenpreneur, who thinks the chocolate business is about to undergo a revolution, says, “I want to take Saraam to them.” “I do consider its worldwide consumption, whether it be through physical presence or online fulfillment. He concludes by saying, “This is for the Global Indian rooted in India story.”
