“Homemade” chocolates in the Nilgiris have almost become as iconic as the district’s native wildlife and forests. However, the origins of the treat are far more recent than one would believe, with the boom in tourism during the 1990s playing a significant part in the rise in the popularity of “Ooty chocolates”.
Heritage enthusiasts tracing the cultural origins of the Nilgiris’ famous cuisines believe that the “homemade chocolates” are remnant of the time of the British colonists.
According to P.J. Vasanthan, a Coonoor resident, the history of the homemade chocolates was only around 70 years old. They became popular in the 1990s and the early 2000s during the period when the district witnessed a huge boom in tourism. “Tourists visiting the district reached for the chocolates to take back home for family and friends, and slowly the homemade chocolates became more and more popular and have now become synonymous with the district,” he said.
