A Lake District bakery has collaborated with a chocolate producer to create a new milk chocolate bar.
Grasmere Gingerbread has joined forces with Sheffield-based Bullion Chocolate to incorporate its famous crumbs into a new chocolate bar.
Joanne Hunter, co-director of Grasmere Gingerbread, said: "It's a melt-in-the-mouth match made in heaven."
The idea for the collaboration came from Bullion Chocolate's founder, Max Scotford, who is a lifelong fan of Grasmere Gingerbread.
Mr Scotford said: "I've loved Grasmere Gingerbread since I first visited the Lake District as a young boy.
"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."
Mr Scotford spent several weeks perfecting the blend of his craft chocolate, made directly from beans roasted on site and blended with pure cane sugar, with the crumbs.
He said: "The Grasmere Gingerbread crumbs perfectly complement the type of Ghana origin cocoa bean we use."
He described the milk chocolate bar as “creamy with a delicate crumbly texture and a subtle aftertaste of spicy-sweet ginger.”
Ms Hunter praised Mr Scotford for his passion and creativity.
She said: "When I first met Max I was personally blown away by his passion, creativity, transparency and entrepreneurial spirit.
"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."
Grasmere Gingerbread only collaborates with other artisan companies who share their ethos and values.
Ms Hunter said: "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."
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 until the end of 2024.
It will also be available through the Grasmere Gingerbread online shop and from the Grasmere Gingerbread stand at various festivals across the country.
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