Hillwa is a lovable brand among the bean- to-bar chocolate lovers in southern part of India especially in Kerala. Harifa and Yusef are behind these Wayanad based natural chocolate firm.

It was in 2017, the notion of chocolate making came into Harifa’s mind. She was working at Dubai health authority and most of her colleagues were Emiratis. They consider “shokoola” (Which mean chocolate in Arabic) as an inevitable luxury in special occasions.  We are a chocolate loving family and discussed the availability of cacao, (the primary ingredient of chocolate) at our home.

One day wevisited one bean to bar chocolate factory in Dubai. We were amazed by the process of transforming raw cacao beans into delicious chocolate bars, and were struck by the purity and depth of flavour that came from this artisanal approach. The same year when we came for vacation, we visited some of the cacao farms and agricultural and food research centres in Southern India.

In 2019 we planned to settle in Kerala and came back from Dubai. Inspired by what we had seen and experience from different chocolate makers and institutions, we decided to start our own bean-to-bar chocolate company. We spent one and half years for research and learn everything we could about cacao beans, chocolate-making techniques, and the industry as a whole.

Finally, after much hard work and continuous trial and error we  launched our own chocolate brand HILLWA on 2020. We sourced high-quality cacao pods directly from the farmers around Wayanad and nearby districts, and carefully ferment, dry roast, ground, and temper the chocolate to create a unique and delicious flavour profile. It is the healthy and mouth-watering chocolate HILLWA.