L-R: Joanne Hunter (Grasmere Gingerbread®), Max Scotford (Bullion Chocolate) and Andrew Hunter (Grasmere Gingerbread®)

Grasmere Gingerbread® has collaborated with a top northern craft chocolate producer to incorporate its crumbs into a new luxurious milk chocolate bar.

The world-famous Lake District bakery and tourist attraction will now sell the confectionery exclusively for the remaining months of its current 170^th anniversary year.

“It’s a melt-in-the-mouth match made in heaven,” said Grasmere Gingerbread® co-director Joanne Hunter. Sheffield-based Bullion Chocolate approached Grasmere Gingerbread® earlier this year.

Its founder, 31-year-old Max Scotford, is a lifelong fan of their 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 somehow 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 21^st 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.”

The new Bullion milk chocolate bar incorporating crumbs of Grasmere Gingerbread®

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.”

The new Bullion milk chocolate bar incorporating crumbs of Grasmere Gingerbread®

“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 Bullion/Grasmere Gingerbread® milk chocolate bar 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/.