An invite to taste good chocolate is always welcome. Especially, if it’s sourced from Belgium! The founder of Jus’ Trufs, Chenddyna (pronounced Chandana) Schae tells me that the raw material is imported all the way from this far away European country.

Jus Trufs is located on #9 Jakkur Road, around a kilometre off new Airport Road. Along with my chocolate loving better half for company, I landed up at the rather impressive four-storey building that now houses a cafe, a chocolate production unit and a large performance/workshop space on the top floor.

Despite its location, the place is well frequented by people around that area who know about it. And if you thought Jus’ Trufs is just about chocolates, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. We make ourselves comfortable and settle into the warm and cosy cafe, with some sandwiches, while the better half decides on a chocolate shot to start off the evening.

Chenddyna began her venture as a home business many years ago. Quickly, the word about her delicious goodies got around and she began to get a steady stream of orders. In those days, it was mostly word of mouth. She quickly outgrew her facility at home and had to look at a new space. This first began as her production unit, and then she realised that she could also add a cafe to cater to those coming in to pick up orders. She also hold customised workshops and the top floor is used for performances, screenings etc.

Now, she has help running the cafe, while she oversees the efficiently run production unit. We wander around and get a glimpse of chocolate goodies being baked, packed, sorted and then gotten ready to be dispatched to different locations. Companies, parties, individuals – she caters to a wide range of needs and her kitchen staff is always busy baking up all flavours of chocolate goodness!

Talking about chocolate tours, it’s our turn to experience one. We start off with some interesting tidbits about chocolate. For example, did you know that chocolate in itself does not have calories? But wait! The catch is the added sugar content. Which is why dark chocolate is usually better if you’re watching your weight! But chocolate is chocolate, calories notwithstanding.

The chocolate is sourced from Belgium and she ensures it’s the best quality. There are different chocolate mixes and we get a demonstration on how we can use cocoa butter to make a creamy consistency chocolate mix. Using good cocoa butter is the key. You need to beat in such a way that it does not solidify completely, but allows you to play with it a bit. After that, blobs of chocolate are put in molds and decorated with garnish like nuts etc. After that, we let it set for a few minutes in the cold freezer and then they’re all ready to be packed and taken home. We don our aprons and behave like we’re chocolate chefs for a day.

The chocolate tour in itself was quite good. It would probably be more enjoyable in a larger group, where you have more of a chance to introduce competitive elements and interaction. Using chocolate in cooking is another area that would have also been very interesting. Tying up with a food expert might help taking the tour to the next level.

So what can you expect at Jus’ Trufs? The variety is large and tempting. But some of the favourites are the dark and decadent Belgian style chocolate pralines made from pure cocoa butter. The signature range with soft truffles and crunchy pralines in bittersweet dark, made from their special blend of fine Asian covertures are also very popular. Their milk chocolate has a healthy cocoa content and is well rounded in flavour and used as a covering for the Jus’ Bisks, Original Milk and their lollipops. Their cupcakes looked sinful and delicious, though we couldn’t afford to eat anything else that day!
Chenddyna herself has been continuously upgrading her cooking and chocolatiering skills in various parts of the world. She is part of the 10,000 women program (global initiative to inculcate business education in women entrepreneurs) sponsored by Goldman Sachs, conducted by ISB Hyderabad.

So if you feel like a chocolate fix, you know where to head now!

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