The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd (CAMPCO) released its first spicy toffee in the market on Wednesday.
Speaking during its launch, M. Suresh Bhandary, Managing Director of the cooperative said the new product has been prepared from sugar-based syrups and natural black pepper powder and ginger extracts.
The cooperative has now produced 12 tonnes of spicy toffee. Its production will be increased depending on market demand, he said.
Mr. Bhandary said in olden days, some people traditionally made the toffee using black pepper, ginger and jaggery at homes. The CAMPCO has borrowed the same concept in making its new product using sugar-based syrups.
At the same time, it is doing research and development on replacing sugar-based syrups with jaggery for mass production of its spicy toffee.
The R&D is expected to be over in another three months. Once the jaggery-based formula is ready, the cooperative will use the same to have the traditional flavour.
Mr. Bhandary said CAMPCO is the first to make and market the spicy toffee in the organised sector.
The Managing Director claimed that the spicy toffee acted as a body-cooling agent and a mouth fresher. It also decreased the feeling of thirst.
Each spicy toffee weighs 3.6 gm and is priced at ₹1. The cooperative supplies them to the dealers in jars. Each jar will have 250 pieces.
The president of the cooperative S.R. Satishchandra also launched the first television commercial of the cooperative to market its various chocolate products across the country.
The commercial has been made in Kannada, English, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Tamil to reach out to various segments of customers. The commercial is of 60-seconds duration.
