Museum opens for home-made chocolates

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Ooty: If it is A.R. Rahman for music, then it is Rahman brothers in the Nilgiris hills for home-made chocolates! They have set up their chocolate museum — M&N Chocolate Museum — on Mysore Road, near HPF factory. The brothers claim it’s a first-of-its-kind in the country and it gives an insight into the history of chocolate-making.
The museum, with its vintage architecture and interiors that remind one of British country architecture, also boasts of models of horse carts, boat, idols, chocolate fountain, ancient chocolate making implements, cocoa seeds and the photographs of three Swiss men who were pioneers in home-made chocolate-making, along with signages on the health benefits of chocolates. It also has a counter to house varieties of homemade chocolates.
Fazloor, the younger of the duo, who completed a course on chocolate-making at Ecolechocolate
Institute in Canada and known for quite a few innovative shows on homemade chocolates, said home-made chocolates are a roaring confectionery industry now as people from all walks of life like them.“The cool weather profile in Ooty gives a special flavour and taste to the home-made chocolates. We make a little more than 100 varieties using nuts, resins, dry fruits and even some herbs. These chocolates need special touch of the hands to bring out the
desired taste. Home-made chocolates of Ooty easily attract the locals and tourists,” he said.His brother Abdul, a mechanical engineer by profession, who turned a chocolatier with some inspiration and help from his brother, said the chocolate museum is an attempt to give the much-needed insight into the history of chocolate-making, which dates back to the Mayan era.
The Mayans were known to be the first users of cocoa.