A taste of Scotland
We are so fortunate to be able to live in a beautiful place and to be able to enjoy fabulous Scottish food very regularly. This is the foundation of our product range - a taste of Scotland in chocolate - so thought it only right we give due respect to the wonderful produce we use and where you can buy it!
Well it would be inconceivable to not use whisky!!! We love whisky, from right across Scotland, and it's been a struggle to get down to the four that we currently use in our range.
Bread...
We source our bread from the amazing Tarmachan café in Crathie, about as local as you can get. We make our orange marmalade and pair it with almond butter and encase it in a smooth dark chocolate.
This truffle is a chocolate ode to one of life's simple but mighty pleasures!
Coffee
There are LOTS of coffee roasters here in Scotland, and we love lots of them, but none quite as much as Thomson's Coffee Roasters, who have been roasting coffee since 1841 - so they know what they are doing! - and offer a dazzling array of roasts.
Can't beat it in the dark strong truffle and smooth milk bar that we make with their beautiful St Vincent Roast.
Gin...
We love lots of gin from Scotland - let's face it, Scotland is pretty good at gin!! - We were keen to use great ones that contrasted well with each other. In the end we decided that our current gins would be Hills and Harbour Gin, and - more recently - the more local Caorunn Raspberry Gin and Blood Orange gin from the Speyside Balmenachoth Distillery.
Hills and Harbour take their inspiration from the sea and the hills, using both Noble Fir needles and Bladderwrack Seaweed in their botanicals.
We are so excited to have been able to add Caorunn Gin to our collection. Both the raspberry and blood orange are beautiful refreshing gins, which deliver huge flavour, without any bitter after taste, which allows them to pair perfectly with chocolate.
Cheese?
Yes! Cheese! In an adaptation of a fairly well-known combination of Port, Stilton and dark chocolate, we have gone for Port and Blue Murder.
Made by the superb Highland Fine Cheeses in Tain, this amazing creamy blue cheese is a stunning partner for both the port and smooth dark chocolate in this popular truffle.
Rum...
There are a growing number of lovely Scottish rums, and this one is very good indeed. Caithness Raider's Rum is made by the artisan Ice and Fire Distillery, way, way up north.
We love it's light taste (and colour) which still packs in a lot of flavour, including the beautiful coconut aroma from gorse flowers collected from around the distillery. Who knew that gorse aroma could be captured in such an exotic flavour, and how amazing!
We love this rum and its heritage so are delighted to use it in a slightly Scottish take on the classic rum and raisin, pairing it with beautiful Lexia raisins and a single-origin Caribe milk chocolates, which adds a distinctly caramel flavour.
Vinegar
The Scottish Bee Company make beautiful vinegar amongst other great products.
We use their strawberry & black peppercorn vinegar in our strawberry truffle - a Scottish take on strawberries and balsamic vinegar - which adds a complementary hit to this popular praline.
Sea Salt
Shetland Salt is a tiny artisan business which uses the freshest sea water off the coast of Shetland, famously free of pollutants and rich in nutrients. We use their sea salt in our salted caramels - one of our biggest sellers. We also use the fantastic Blackthorn Sea salt in our Blackthorn Bar, a truly amazing combination alongside our Single Origin 66% Mexique chocolate.
Honey
There are many great honey producers in Scotland, so we have tried to stay close to home with our current choices - two very different honeys.
We are very excited to be able to use our very own Braemar Honey in our new Braemar bars. We caramelise milk chocolate and add a touch of this light tasting honey - totally moreish! - and only available from our local butchers here in the village.
Heather Hills Farm is just down the road from us at the Bridge of Cally and produces incredible honeys, jams and preserves. They are all of a great quality. We have chosen one amazing honey to use in two products that have become some of our biggest sellers. Their award winning heather honey has a deep taste, holding its own to pair beautifully with the passion fruit in our milk chocolate praline. We've also recently started to use this honey in our new honeycomb recipe, to create our top selling honeycomb bars.
Oil
May be not what you would think about Scotland and its produce, but - actually rapeseed oil is a thing up here. We love Cullisse - the most northerly cold-pressed rapeseed oil
This highland rapeseed oil benefits from the unique micro-climate and fertile soils of Easter Ross in the Scottish Highlands where the properties of the rapeseed are nurturedduring the extra long days of light that distinguish a Highland Summer.
Cullisse oil has a silky butteriness and summer grassiness, with a subtle nuttiness that works amazing well with dark chocolate. This makes it a key ingredients of our plant-based chocolates.
Shortbread
Who doesn't like a lovely buttery shortbread with a cuppa??!! We are partial to this quintessentially Scottish treat and are currently using Dean's all butter shortbread as it won our (completely unscientific) taste test, conducted in the comfort of our own home through lockdown (we ate A LOT of shortbread!!).
Vodka
A lack of knowledge of the amazing UK vodka scene meant that this is a relatively recent addition to our range. But it was worth waiting for!!! The first time we tasted Ogilvy vodka we could not believe how smooth and creamy this is. It's also made from potatoes (on the farm where they are grown) so it is completely gluten free too.