You would be forgiven for thinking that we got swallowed up by the vast expanse of the Scottish Highlands. After all, I missed a few Friday posts again and who would voluntarily trade Scotland’s natural beauty for London?

This trip like most was inspired by a serendipitous encounter with Cameron and Lara from Bare Bones at Chocolate Unwrapped. November in Scotland is cold, beautiful and full of surprises…it snowed!

Apparently most unusual for a place this far up north. Autumn colours turned from one day into a winter wonderland the next day. Our plan was simple, get out of Glasgow pronto and head into The Highlands.

Eilean Donan Castle in autumn colours and winter gown

The castle above was used for films such as Entrapment with Sean Connery. You will pass it on your way north to the Isle of Skye.

Scotland’s landscape is magnificent and worth a whole separate post in itself. Here I will solely focus on chocolate. However, if you are interested in our 8 day journey, drop a comment below and I will write more about it.

While there was no chocolate worth mentioning on Skye, we stopped at Chocolates of Glenshiel on our return towards Glasgow.

Founded by Finlay in 2016, Chocolates of Glenshiel is one of Scotland’s very few chocolatiers. The workshop and café sits right on the border when crossing over to the Isle of Skye. It’s a former petrol station and the perfect spot to refuel on hot chocolate.

What we liked:

• The Dark Chocolate Bar with Haggis Spice (a true taste of Scotland)
• Scottish inspired bars with locally sourced ingredients
• Friendly chocolate people to talk to
• A welcoming space to enjoy a hot chocolate

What we liked less:

• All chocolate is supplied by Callebaut and melted down
• The dark hot chocolate of 72% is extremely sweet (personal opinion)
• The chocolate lacks character as it’s a blend of different African Origins

Second stop on our chocolate itinerary was highly acclaimed chocolatier Iain Burnett aka The Highland Chocolatier. His Willy Wonka factory sits nestled in the green heart of Perthshire.

He is well known for his unenrobed velvet truffles for which he won several awards. It took him 3 years and 120 recipe variations to perfect. We tried the truffles and here’s what we thought.

Café, museum and gift shop are all part of The Highland Chocolatier attraction.

The unenrobed velvet truffles are served on a plain white saucer with a wooden tooth pick. Presentation could be better. 4 pieces set you back £6.95

The thick hot chocolate is served in an espresso cup and comes in at £4.5. It is a 70% dark chocolate and still fairly sweet. It reminded me of Italian style hot chocolate. Highly recommended if you fancy an indulgent cup of hot chocolate.

Unfortunately, the entire experience didn’t live up to all the hype we were seeing and reading online.

What disappointed us even more was that all the bars containing inclusions heavily sported E numbers. Lecithin and vanilla flavouring were also in the majority of chocolate bars. The main source of cacao comes from São Tomé however, it is unclear whether he roasts and grinds his own chocolate as well.

My verdict: If you are into craft chocolate I strongly suggest to skip The Highland Chocolatier.

Out of the wilderness and into the city, Glasgow is your port of call for exquisite craft chocolate. Bare Bones are calling!

Located smack bam in the city one can call themselves truly lucky for having craft chocolate this central. Their workshop and café are only a hundred meters apart from each other. Here you can enjoy a hot chocolate, browse bars and curated gift ideas.

70% Togo (the red one) is Bare Bones’s special Christmas bar this season.

^{You know it’s craft chocolate when production is set up in a railway arch 😉}

We met Cameron at the café for a hot chocolate (70% Madagascar) and walked over to the factory for a tour. Before we even saw the arch we were welcomed by the strong and delightful scent of raw cacao. We were in heaven!

Cameron showed us his modified white Giesen roaster, which is one of the secret components to making their chocolate stand out. Besides cacao and cacao butter, he only adds raw cane sugar. That’s all you need.

The top left corner image shows a machine I have not come across before.

Here’s how it works. Cacao nibs are ground into a smooth paste in a matter of hours. In the left tank the liquor is then heated to a certain temperature to develop its flavour profile. So how is this machine different to a melangeur?

In a standard melangeur the cacao beans can be grinding for up to 72 hours at a time. During this process the flavour is further developed due to the permanent friction and heat.

The aforementioned machine speeds everything up allowing for more chocolates to be produced in less time. Pretty clever and efficient.

In total 12 people work at Bare Bones and production was in full swing for Christmas. People were wrapping bars at a big table, those were packed into boxes for retail and online orders were packed for shipping.

Bare Bones was the perfect finish to our Highland chocolate adventure. The souvenirs we took home were invaluable. We met friendly Scots, were awed by Mother Nature and amazed by good chocolate in Glasgow. Our new favourite bar is possibly the Honduras 54% with Ethiopian Coffee.

I would love to find out what chocolate you discovered in Scotland, whether you have a different opinion about the places I visited and whether you are a fan of Bare Bones as well.

Wishing you a happy Friday!

Robin