Chocolate with a twist — has protein-rich millets

A Bengaluru-based food technologist has come up with chocolates that are more nourishing with higher fibre and protein content and replacing sugar with natural sweeteners.
Chocolate with a twist — has protein-rich millets

BENGALURU: The humble millet is finding its way into restaurant menus and Instagram dinners. And becoming a staple of delious laddus, mouth-watering pizzas, and now even yummy chocolates, as people are becoming more and more health-conscious.

A Bengaluru-based food technologist has come up with chocolates that are more nourishing with higher fibre and protein content and replacing sugar with natural sweeteners. In doing so, he has been able to remove all the junk in the chocolate.

To achieve this end, Arnab Guha, founder of Impeccable Innovations, tied up with several organic coconut growers and millet farmers to develop two of the three varieties of high-protein chocolates.

Drawing from his experience with the food industry, Guha said, “I knew that the chocolate formulation in the industry was flawed -- there is 40 per cent sugar content in chocolates. We replaced sugar with stevia, from the plant leaf, and erythritol (a sweet substance extracted from certain lichens and algae) from bacterial fermentation -- both expensive alternatives to sugar. However, to differentiate from others, we incorporated the best available products.”

The next challenge was to increase the protein and fibre content naturally. He said to do that psyllium husk was used to increase fibre content in chocolates, giving it the right amount of gumminess, while millets — ragi, kodo, and barnyard millet which are a speciality of Karnataka — increased the natural protein content to 12% in the chocolates.

The idea of developing healthier chocolates came to Guha while manufacturing his other product – gluten-free atta – for people with celiac disease and autism. “We realised that while changes would be brought into the kitchen with atta, children were still susceptible to junk food. And chocolates made for the largest category of junk that children consumed. That area needed to be addressed,” he said.

When further developing the bite-sized chocolates, Guha also came up with the almond and cashew varieties which use Indian grown produce. The team is now developing milk and dark chocolate versions.

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