Spice Fermentation Set

An Aromatic Adventure

Back in 2018, our cocoa-producing partners Karthikeyan Palanisamy and Harish Kumar of Anamalai, India’s Regal Plantations approached us with an interesting idea — what if they took whole nutmeg, which they grow alongside cacao on their farm, and added it to a tiny batch of fermenting beans to see if the nutmeg imparted flavor to the cocoa? With some tinkering, their experimental fermentation was a success, and in 2019 Dandelion produced the first-ever nutmeg-fermented chocolate bar.

After tasting the delicious chocolate made from Anamalai’s nutmeg-fermented beans, we wondered whether any of our other producing partners might be interested in developing a spice fermentation. In early 2022, we approached Simran Bindra of Kokoa Kamili, in Tanzania, and Diane Coy of Maya Mountain Cacao, in Belize, and both were excited to see what they could create. Dandelion’s only request: Try fermenting with a locally grown ingredient, or something meaningful to the area where the cacao is cultivated.

For 2024, we’ve developed three fresh batches of spice-fermented chocolate. We hope you will enjoy these three unique bars, and are as amazed as we are by the flavorful surprises that can happen when people try new ways of doing things.