BENGALURU: Tired of seeing the word ‘organic’ on almost every label but rarely finding anything truly natural, an IT couple working in Bengaluru quit their corporate jobs and returned to their hometown Puttur in Dakshina Kannada, to start a chocolate brand. They wanted to put Puttur on the ‘Made in India’ chocolate map, using cocoa grown on their family farmland.
What started as small experiments with homegrown cocoa and natural sweeteners like dates and jaggery, has now grown into a full-fledged brand, with the couple also providing employment to women from rural backgrounds. In a chocolate market largely dominated by foreign brands, Swathi Kallegundi and her husband Balasubrahmanya PS (above) wanted to show what organic chocolates from India could be like. The couple now produces 300-500 kilograms of chocolate every day.
Swathi, an electronics and communication engineering graduate, and Balasubrahmanya, a software engineer, had worked for years in MNCs in Bengaluru. Like many urban professionals, they often relied on packaged foods labelled ‘organic’, but over time, found themselves questioning the quality behind the tags. The idea of starting something of their own came up when markets were shut during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Balasubrahmanya and Swathi moved to Puttur to work remotely, living on their farmland. With time and access to fresh cocoa, banana, coconut and dates, they began experimenting with small batches of chocolate, using only cocoa and natural sweeteners like jaggery, coconut sugar or date sugar. “That’s how Anuttama was born. In Sanskrit, Anuttama means ‘the finest’ or ‘none better’, and we chose the name to reflect the focus on clean chocolate made from local ingredients,” Balasubrahmanya said. Swathi said that as the brand grew, they started developing flavours inspired by familiar tastes from Karnataka.
“One of our best-known products is Spicy Tang, a dark chocolate made with jaggery, ginger and pepper. The idea came from kashaya, a traditional home remedy popular across Karnataka, made from spices like ginger and pepper and sweetened with jaggery, often given for cough and cold. Turning that into a balanced chocolate bar took several failed attempts but eventually became one of the best creations,” Swathi said. In 2021, Spicy Tang flavour won the bronze medal at the International Chocolate Awards Asia Pacific.
Another popular flavour is Bella Tharai, made with coconut milk and jaggery — a nod to the coastal region’s cooking traditions. “We didn’t want to add flavours just for variety. We wanted them to mean something and connect to what people here actually consume,” she said.
To support growing demand, the couple uses cocoa beans from their own farm as well as neighbouring ones. “We buy wet beans and handle the fermentation and drying ourselves to maintain consistency,” Balasubrahmanya said, explaining that the entire process — fermenting, drying, roasting, grinding, tempering, moulding and packaging — is done at their unit in Bettampady in Puttur.
Currently, they employ nine women from nearby villages. “The idea is to build a clean product and also create steady local employment, especially for rural women,” she added.