Hello, I’m very new to this forum, but thought I’d mention a couple of choclatiers in Scotland that have really, really impressed me…
In Inverness there’s a tiny shop called Belgian-Caledonian Story, run by a husband and wife chocolatier team: she’s from Scotland, he’s Belgian! They mainly make loose chocolates, and have an amazing range. I think they are superb, and taste to me as if they are proper chocolate – no nasties like vanillin – but I haven’t actually chatted with them to find out more. But the place is worth a visit (and I recommend their mango creams and walnut liquer chocolates in particular, despite being a fan of neither fruit creams nor liquers!).
I’m in Edinburgh at the moment, where there’s a truly wonderful shop called Coco of Bruntsfield. The bars are just wonderful – with some really inventive stuff going on (for instance white chocolate bars with strawberry and green pepper, or with cocoa nibs) – and also they sell things as delectable as Valrhona Grand Cru Single origin chocolate in chunks – they have Manjabi and Pur Caribe at the moment, mmmm! All the chocolate there has the very best ingredients, and it’s all hand-tempered except the 68% dark chocolate…