Grasmere Gingerbread® has collaborated with a top northern craft chocolate producer to incorporate its crumbs into a new luxurious milk chocolate bar.
These will be sold exclusively over-the-counter at its two shops in Grasmere and Hawkshead - plus through its online shop and at trade stands - for the remaining months of its current 170th anniversary year.
“It’s a melt-in-the-mouth match made in heaven,” said Grasmere Gingerbread® co-owner Joanne Hunter. Sheffield-based Bullion Chocolate approached Grasmere Gingerbread® earlier this year.
Joanne & Andrew Hunter with Max Scotford.
Its founder, 31-year-old Max Scotford, is a lifelong fan of the unique spicy-sweet cross between a biscuit and cake.
“I’ve loved Grasmere Gingerbread® since I first visited the Lake District as a young boy,” he explained.
“My family took holidays at a farmhouse in Little Langdale after my maternal grandfather rode there from Sheffield on his Triumph Bonneville motorbike and declared ‘I’ve found heaven’.
“Grasmere Gingerbread® is unique and utterly moreish and I have long had a dream to incorporate it into a superior bar.
Joanne Hunter heaped generous praise on Sheffield’s celebrated craft chocolate maker.
“When I first met Max I was personally blown away by his passion, creativity, transparency and entrepreneurial spirit,” she said.
“Equally, as a traditional Victorian company, it’s been very satisfying working with such a go-ahead 21st business and exciting for us to be able to add something unique to his range of Bullion confectionery; it’s literally and metaphorically been a smooth blend of the old and the new.”
Max’s culinary fusion of Grasmere Gingerbread® and his craft chocolate - which is made directly from beans roasted on site (unlike most chocolate manufacturers) and blended with pure cane sugar - took him several weeks to perfect.
“The Grasmere Gingerbread® crumbs perfectly complement the type of Ghana origin cocoa bean we use,” he said.
He described the milk chocolate bar as “creamy with a delicate crumbly texture and a subtle aftertaste of spicy-sweet ginger.”
“I wasn’t sure how Grasmere Gingerbread® would react when I proposed my idea but it has been a pleasure working with them over the past few months,” added Max.
As Grasmere Gingerbread® only collaborates with other artisan companies who share their ethos and values, Bullion was a perfect fit.
“Not only are their beans ethically sourced from reputable farmers who are paid a premium but their chocolate bars are palm oil free and unique - just like Grasmere Gingerbread®,” said Joanne.
Until the end of 2024, the new Milk Chocolate Bar with Grasmere Gingerbread® Crumbs will be sold exclusively over-the-counter at The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop in the Lake District and its sister shop in nearby Hawkshead, through the Grasmere Gingerbread® online shop at www.grasmeregingerbread.co.uk and from the Grasmere Gingerbread® stand at various festivals across the country - see www.grasmeregingerbread.co.uk/events/.
