I tried the 'world's best' chocolate from a Scottish chocolatier celebrating his 20th anniversary
This is a classier sweet treat than your average Galaxy
To celebrate 20 years since he set up The Highland Chocolatier in Grandtully, Iain Burnett should treat himself to a much bigger trophy cabinet.
Not only has he hit this milestone, he’s also received his 100th award, with his Velvet Truffles recently bagging 19 gold stars in the Great Taste Awards. His other prizes come from organisations including the Guild of Fine Food, International Chocolate Awards, Academy of Chocolate, Food & Drink Excellence and other awarding bodies.
I have tried his wares before, and visited his Perthshire shop. However, it’s been a while.
Instead of the posh stuff, I have found myself indulging in Twirls, Galaxy and Wispas.
Thus, I decided to up my gourmand credentials and give his 45-minute Guided Tasting Flight (from £26.95) a whirl. You can choose from Milk, or Dark varieties, and I went for the latter.
After the postie comes, you lay the five chocolates out on a tasting mat, provided, then listen to the online narrative, voiced by Burnett himself.
The first video explains what makes chocolate, and where Burnett sources his ingredients. It also covers roasting, conching and couverture. I find it hard to concentrate on this bit, as I keep staring at the goodies.
This is like the TikTok trend, when you put treats in front of dogs, and tell them not to touch them while their human leaves the room. I am a drooling golden retriever.
Anyway, the dialogue is very interesting, The second video discusses tasting, and how we should do it.
“It’s like wine or whisky, except you don’t have to spit them out,” says Burnett.
We should enjoy the journey, find out what we like, and, when tasting, break off a small piece, crush it with our teeth, and breathe through our nose and mouth at the same time.
Chocolate number one is the dark langue de chat - an ‘intense 71 per cent Sao Tome island cocoa’. Burnett asks, can we taste candied red fruit notes, ginger or roast coffee? No, yes and yes. Whatever the notes, it is beautiful.
Then we move onto the award-winning Dark Velvet Truffle - ‘an unenrobed ganache of intense Sao Tome cocoa combined with fresh cream from a local herd of Scottish Friesians. Awarded best dark truffle in the world’. Bring it on. Indeed, it’s lush and creamy, with zero clagginess.
“It could bring a smile to a child, or a diner at the tables of Albert Roux and Gordon Ramsay,” says Burnett, who has, in fact, supplied those famous chefs.
Next is a Velvet Truffle variety that has question marks on the sheet, where the flavours are usually displayed. It’s a guessing game.
As Burnett’s chocolates are all natural, they’re subtler than some e-number riddled versions. However, I get the unmistakable taste of raspberry and black pepper.
Delish, as is the next number, all prettified with a yellow leaf pattern on its surface. Apparently, this one has been awarded best white truffle in the UK. It features blonde white chocolate, with passionfruit and mango, and was based on the idea of creating the zingiest possible truffle.
The final chocolate is my favourite. I’m a sucker for nutty things, and this caramelised hazelnut praline features the rather random sounding ingredient of lemongrass. As Burnett explains on the video, it is quite a natural pairing, if you think about Thai cooking and the mixture of peanuts and this herb.
Rather than daintily nibbling, I hoof this one. I can’t help it. I have discovered what I like, and it’s way better than a Wispa.
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